Having fun with Craigslist scammers

I received this message regarding an item I posted a few days back on Craigslist…

Good day, i will like to inform you that i like to buy your item.i will like to know the condition of this item and if it still for sell…

I replied…

The item is here – condition as described in the ad.

Then it gets good…

Thanks so much for the update.The price is not the problem but i think i have to be very careful this time when am transacting on the internet. I had fallen into the hands of some fradulent seller that,collected my money and ver ships out my item. I hope i can trust you? Anyway, i intend to make fast payment as soon as i can before i travel to Bahamas in 2 weeks time. I will making my payment through US Certified check and i will wait till you receive and cash it before i arrange for the shipping.

Shipping will be solely funded by me without you paying a dime, if you are okay with this, let me have your full name and address plus your reachable telephone number as it will be written on the check so that,i can forward it to my finance house to prepare your check immediately for you to receive it on time.

Do get back to me

I want this concerned buyer to know I’m trustworthy. And I love it when people are leaving the country and need an item so quickly that they are willing to send me a “US Certified check” from their “finance house” and cover the shipping! I offer the person the finest assurances I can provide…

Use tracking for the mail, and make sure to pay for the mailing with your valid credit card. When you have noted that the check has arrived, let me know right away. I’ll go straight there and your shipper can meet me immediately.

How’s that sound?

I never got a reply back. I can’t understand why, and am sorely disappointed.

Editor’s note: Of course, the FBI has better things to do than run down two bit scammers. But wouldn’t it be nice if once, just once, one of these morons actually sent a fraudulent check to the FBI, and the Bureau nabbed them?

UPDATE: While stories/comments are greatly appreciated, I don’t have time to edit out email addresses and mailing addresses that might otherwise put someone at risk. Comments containing them get automatically deleted from here on out. Thanks very much.

Thanks for the prompt response,i will like to proceed with the
transaction asap and my mode of payment will be via Bank certified
check. However, to ease the pick up the item will be picked-up from
you by my shipper once you receive and cash the check,i am willing to
wait for your bank to verify and clear the check before the shipper
pickup the item therefore I’ll need this detail below to mail out the
check.

* The Full name on check
* Mailing address (Deliverable Address)
* Phone Number

Proceed to delete the advert of this item if my mode of payment is
accepted and get back to me asap with your details to mail out the
certified check to you.

i just got a charles schnaufer and googled his name as i am a seasoned craigs lister. today actually. havent got the whole second email yet but i intend to up the price of my couch to $2,000,000.00 I also did the “send your check to an fbi agent” here in boston, too. I will post the response for some good laughs.

I posted an ad for housecleaning on Craigslist, noticed others had as well. I used a different email address, and low and behold they responded by emailing my PROFESSIONAL WRITING address? Does anyone know how something like this could happen? It terrified me. I responded from my writing address with this reply: I would like to know how you got this address? I have been stalked since 2006 and I am not taking this lightly! Can someone please tell me how I can report this craigslist emailer?

I am highly interested in the item you have for sell. However I have some questions for you about the condition your item is in. If you would be willing to buy me some beers tonight at a local establishment we can discuss a shipping address and payment method. You must hurry however, I am leaving in the morning to go out of town as the FBI is looking for me.

Nice, I’ve just received the same exact message to an ad I’ve got up on craigslist. It seemed kind of suspicious to me so I did a google search on the text and found your blog. I’ve just replied back with a similar message that you sent:

“The item is still for sale, read the ad for its condition as it is all described there…”

If the scammer replies back I’ll be sure to direct him to send the check to the FBI just as you did. Thanks for the idea!

“The item is still for sale, read the ad for its condition as it is all described there…”

I get pretty much the exact same response that the poster got:

“Thanks so much for the update.The price is not the problem but i think i have to be very careful this time when am transacting on the internet. I had fallen into the hands of some fradulent seller that,collected my money and ver ships out my item. I hope i can trust you? Anyway, i intend to make fast payment as soon as i can before i travel to Bahamas in 2 weeks time. I will making my payment through US Certified check and i will wait till you receive and cash it before i arrange for the shipping.

Shipping will be solely funded by me without you paying a dime, if you are okay with this, let me have your full name and address plus your reachable telephone number as it will be written on the check so that,i can forward it to my finance house to prepare your check immediately for you to receive it on time. Do get back to me”

Right, well I expected that. So I reply with a similar tactic, sending an address to an FBI headquarters (in Charlotte NC) but I don’t tip him off about it:

Please get back to me with the address where i can ship the item to you which I will do once I receive your certified check. Thanks…”

Then it really gets good as this is what I got back:

“Hello ,

i am not in a good state of mind to tell you this but i think you will have plight for me and understand me. I got a bad news while i was about giving your info to my finance house, i was informed that, my dad had a serious accident and he is in COMA now.

The shock of this news affected me badly that, while i was giving your info to my finance house, instead of the original amount to be written on your check, $5,000 was written on it and it has been sent to your address already.

I hope i can trust you with my money and i hope you re trustworthy too and i will appreciate it if you can be sincere with me and since it has happened like this, i think it will be better if the rest of the fund can be sent to my shipping company via western union money transfer so that they can come and pick the item on time and i promise that, i will also compensate you.

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May His light be always with thee. May He keep you safe from harm, and shield you from all wrong. May He grant you His peace. May He guide you on your way. Bring you joy with each new day

Please do get back to me and let me know if you will be able to handle this.

Thanks and i will be waiting to hear from you soonest”

Awesome! So his “dad” being in a coma makes him accidentally fill out a check to me for $5000 instead of the $700 plus $50 extra that he promised. Right!

After I replied with this I haven’t gotten any messages back from “Jak”:

“That is sorry news about your dad and all. But I’m sure when Special Agent Kenneth Moore at the FBI headquarters in Charlotte receives the bogus check from your “financial house” you just sent him that he will be more than happy to return your money too you. Good luck with that…”

Bwaaaaahaaaahaa
That is GREAT! I just received the same email as well but with a slightly different twist…

Thanks for the prompt response, I am quite satisfied with the condition .I am also interested and I will like to make an instant purchase, so kindly end the advert on Craigslist, I do not mind adding an extra $25 for you to close the advert on craigslist so that I can be rest assured that I am the prospective buyer, I would have loved to come take a look but I am a very busy man I am very sure you understand. I will also want you to know that I will be paying via Certified Check, and it will be sent to you via courier service due to the distance. You don’t need to bother about the shipment, as that has been taken care of…… So I will need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check.
1. Full Name on the check
2. Address where payment will be sent to not p.o.box (because my courier service does not deliver to p.o box)
3. City
4. State
5. Zip Code
6. Phone Number
Once again, I will like to remind you that you will not be responsible for shipping as I will have my mover come over as soon as you have cashed the check .
Have A Nice And Rewarding Day Ahead .

*I deal with craigslist all the time… as well as ebay and other internet selling agents… I recognized this as a scam almost immediately. But was not cleaver as you all to reply with such WITT! I will remember this next time… My response was much more boring.. “Sorry, This is a CASH deal only no certified checks accepted.. must meet in person and or mover may provide CASH at time of pickup.”

Thanks so much for the update.The price is not the problem but i think i have to be very careful this time when am transacting on the internet. I had fallen into the hands of some fradulent seller that,collected my money and ver ships out my item. I hope i can trust you? Anyway, i intend to make fast payment as soon as i can before i travel to Bahamas in 2 weeks time. I will making my payment through US Certified check and i will wait till you receive and cash it before i arrange for the shipping.

Shipping will be solely funded by me without you paying a dime, if you are okay with this, let me have your full name and address plus your reachable telephone number as=2 0it will be written on the check so that,i can forward it to my finance house to prepare your check immediately for you to receive it on time. Do get back to me

Omg I am so glad I come across this… I got the exact same emails. From the first email to the second, word by word. I was trying to sell my Lv purse, almost for scam thank you so much. She/he use the name Frank Morgan, please watch out guys…

Don’t these people realize that their scams are exposed on the top of every craigslist correspondence??

“This is exactly what i have been looking for in a long while and
i feel the price is not the problem with me since am bying it for some
one so dear to me and i have always want the best for the person but i think i
have to be very careful this time when am transacting on the internet.
I had fallen into the hands of some fradulent seller that,collected my
money and never ships out my item. I hope i can trust you? Anyway, i
intend to make fast payment as soon as possible since the person stay far
from here. I will making my payment through US Certified
check and i will wait till you receive and cash it before i arrange
for the shipping.It will be shipped to the person in Inidiana.

Shipping will be solely funded by me without you paying a dime, if you
are okay with this, let me have your full name and address plus your
reachable telephone number as it will be written on the check so
that,i can forward it to my finance house to prepare your check
immediately for you to receive it on time.

I got a reply to a motorcyle i am selling but idk if its a scam or not. I really need to sell this bike but dont want to take a chance. Here is the message plz comment and tell me what you think.

>I’m Dave Solomon residing at 715 Dayton Ave Vancouver WA 98664.Phone#773-240-1711
I’m inquiring concerning your item post on CRAIGSLIST cos I’m highly interested in purchasing it… But firstly
1.please kindly get back to me with the present condition
2.Your location and as well your last selling price offer.
3.My mode of payment will be through Bank Cashier Check.
Mail me back as soon as possible If you are Okay with the conditions and so i can be sure i will be buying from you because i need it very soon.
Thanks

Austin, I wouldn’t get too excited, I just got the EXACT same message from a “John Bruce”, same address, same phone number…

In fact, I found this thread by googling the phone number. What’s interesting is that the address is a ligit address in Washington, but the phone number area code is for Chicago, Illinois. If you google the address, however, the number at that address is (360) 993-5880. I REALLY want to call both numbers and see who answers, but i don’t want to give my cell number to these crooks… they already have my email =S.

I’m loving reading through this thread, I think i might hafta jack with this guy a bit too! =P

i gave him my name and address to get the item, then later he says he has put the check in the mail and that it better be sold to him, subtle threat, but no check has arrived yet, so we will not be cashing the check, as i read that someone did cash the check from the scammer and after checking with the teller if it was good (which later it wasnt) he,the victim, then was later arrested.
so if i do not cash the check do you think i am safe even if he has my address?

Maricela – I can’t really tell you whether or not you are ‘safe’ – it seems the best bet under your uncertain circumstances would be to contact the authorities, providing them with all the details of the transaction (including the check, if you get it). Hope things turn out ok…MG

thanks MG..the check has not arrived (its now over 4-5 days), thank goodness.
my husband thought that going to the buyers bank (on the check) would be the best thing, to confirm if there was money in the account, but now finding out how the scam is works, thanks to you all, we will only accept cash from a local resident.

have had this same issue with many diffrent users/email adresses. i contacted my local P.D notified them of the situation and asked if i could use there address to have the check sent to. the chief of police recieved a bad check from these crooks. don’t know what the outcome was but i was notified that they had recieved a check for 2000 dollars for a post i was asking 200 for. i have tried contacting the pd to find out what has happened and they wont tell me any thing. but the d.a. did send a fraudulent check to my local pd. ha ha hopefully they’ll take care of these scammers

I already gave the scammer my address and name, he sent the check already but got lost on its way here so now I’m supposed to go pick it up at the local Fed ex location. I still need to do that. I’ll probably go tomorrow and pick it up, rip it and play around with this guy. =]

I need ideas though! What should I say?

By the way, this guy’s “name” is Daniel Wilson, his email is [REDACTED]
Has an “assistant/mover” named Maria. Her info is:
NAME : [REDACTED]
ADDRESS : [REDACTED]
CITY: Bronx
STATE : NEW YORK
COUNTRY : USA
ZIP CODE :10454

Got an email almost verbatim as Austin. Only address is different. Area code is Chicago.

I’m Dave solomon residing at [REDACTED] .Phone#[REDACTED]
I’m inquiring concerning your item post on CRAIGSLIST cos I’m highly interested in purchasing it… But firstly
1.please kindly get back to me with the present condition
2.Your location and as well your last selling price offer.
3.My mode of payment will be through Bank Cashier Check.
Mail me back as soon as possible If you are Okay with the conditions and so i can be sure i will be buying from you because i need it very soon.
Thanks

I had two scammers trying to get me to ship off a gold and diamond pendant I have for sale on Craigslist. One was the infamous Erik with his Alertpay scam. The other was far more nefarious. It was Rosalynuzzle@hotmail.com. She also goes by rosalynuzzle@gmail.com. It is an upgrade to the Nigeria scam, this time using Western Union. They make a legitimate account at Western Union, probably sent to one of their friends. Then they pass the name and number of the account to the unsuspecting sellers who can go to the actual Western Union site and put in the name and number. It will say there are funds in the account, so the seller assumes all is well. Fortunately for me, I have the business sense of I get the money in hand befoer I ship anything. So I called Western Union to see if the account really had money for me waiting in it. I was informed that the amount was incorrect and that my name was not on it. They referred me to their fraud department. After dealing with them, I went to the FBI and passed all the info I had to them as well.

After that, I returned a nice email to Rosalyn Uzzle who was wondering why I had not responded to her (?) in the last couple of days and was wanting to know if I had shipped the camera. Of course I was selling a pendant, so this gave me a good chuckle. These idiots are not as organized as they seem to be.

My email, in general, informed them that I knew about the scam from the start, that Western Union had frozen their account and that the FBI was now in possession of the money that was in it. I informed them that the emails they sent to me were tracked. Then I let them know that we here in America have things called nano-trackers that have been sent out to them in merchandise they tried to scam off of people. These nano-trackers can be tracked via satellite, and are almost impossible to detect on the merchandise. I then informed them that I would be more than happy to testify against them once they are captured and brought to Gitmo…unless the government decides it would just be easier to send a drone bomber to where they have gathered and just wipe them out. After all, that way would be quicker, cheaper and far more efficient in taking care of the problem. lol! Then I told them to sleep well.

I can almost hear them trying to flush all the nano tracked stuff down the toilet while the others run screaming into the jungle in terror. These Nigerian Craigslist scammers are about as good at scamming us as their counterparts are at trying to hijack military vessels they assume are fishing ships. lol!

Hi,
Thanks for the response.In about a week you will get payment. I am willing to pay your asking price.I will pay by money order as its the only way i can pay you at the moment.I would have loved to come take a look but i am presently out of town on an assignment.I will not be back in town soon. I dont mind adding an extra twenty dollars so you can keep it in my favor,Please send me some pictures.I hope it is in good condition.Reply with your full name,cell phone number,and address where payment should be sent.I will let you know how i intend to go about the pick-up.Please take the posting off craigslist today and consider it sold to me.
Expecting to hear from you soon.
Totally sounded fake to me so i tiold him i only take cash and to come see the item im in no hurry still have not heard back from him.

You stupid americans, especially southern state americans…we nigerians, your so called 419 scams, many of us have profited greatly from your gullibility. Please keep supporting us poor nigerians. We depend on your gullibility….

I am selling a rather large/pricey item on Craigslist & rec’d a similar response. The email address was: Charles Schnaufer . He didn’t ask any questions about it & only referred to it as ‘the item you have for sale’. When it came to the part where he wanted my address, name, phone number; i gave him the FBI’s address with an agent name on found on the FBI website. He obviously didn’t research the address & responded with the following:
“Hello, The check will be delivered to your address tomorrow via USPS Express Mail,here is the USPS Express Mail shipment tracking number EO 968 281 198 US the check was sent to you directly from my company account and it was for $5000 so proceed to your bank to deposit the check and the funds will be available in your account within 24 hours.After the check clears your bank usually within 24hours of deposit you will deduct $2500 for your 5 Station Home Gym and send the excess fund of $2500 to my shipper so he can pickup the fund to pickup the 5 Station Home Gym and other items i purchased to be picked up.
Note:this is a depository account so don’t try to take the check to Bank of America to cash the check instantly because Bank of America won’t cash it for you therefore you need to take the check to your bank regardless of the bank you’re using perhaps Bank of America,J. P. Morgan Chase,Wachovia,Wells Fargo or Credit Union….they will verify the check with my bank and clear the funds into your account asap.
Thanks
Here is the first time he’s mentioned the ‘item i have for sale’ & then he instructs me NOT to try to take it to the issuing bank. Hmmm…. Interesting…
My reply back was that I knew i was going to be out town this week so i had him send the ‘check’ to my husbands office at the FBI & I would tell my husband to look for it.
I wonder if he’ll respond again…

Thank you for the heads up. I don’t think i would have fallen for it at this point but the posts here really opened my eyes & gave me the great idea of using the FBI.

I enjoyed the FBI connection. I started getting these scammer emails about a year ago. Recently one of these ‘organizations’ tried to get me to deposit their counterfeit check in excess of the sale price of the coffee maker that I placed on sale on Craigs list – and then requested I mail back the difference.

My new answer (adding your FBI address):

Hey (“Maleeq”),

Thanks for writing. Actually, my bank is having some type of problem getting your check to clear. I’ll be sure to update you.

Meanwhile, it will be a little difficult to reach me for some time as my wife and I will be traveling. We’re not supposed to divulge our plans, so I hope that I can trust you on this.

We leave next week for Mars. We will be gone for approximately 3 months traveling on the SCMV recently designed by NASA. We’re quite excited about it. It’s a very low key project and not much has been mentioned in the news. Through many years (about 45 years) of my association with NASA, we’ve been selected to participate in the Senior Citizen Mars Vehicle project. However, my communication with Earth is going to be very limited. In the meantime I will kindly ask you to send your e-mails for me to the following address:

Charles Schnaufer is still active on Craigs list. I’m so glad I googled the name. I’m changing my listings today to be worded stronger on the “CASH ONLY”. Just today I received the following from “him”:

Thanks for the prompt response,i will like to proceed with the
transaction asap and my mode of payment will be via Bank certified
check. However, to ease the pick up the item will be picked-up from
you by my shipper once you receive and cash the check,i am willing to
wait for your bank to verify and clear the check before the shipper
pickup the item therefore I’ll need this detail below to mail out the
check.

* The Full name on check
* Mailing address (Deliverable Address)
* Phone Number

Proceed to delete the advert of this item if my mode of payment is
accepted and get back to me asap with your details to mail out the
certified check to you.

I only deal locally and with cash only as stated clearly on my listing.

Shame on you for trying to scam hard working people that are financially desperate enough to have to sell their personal belongings to feed their families. God in heaven wil deal with you and your kind. Stealing is a sin. I will pray for you.

Hello, I’ve just been contacted by a scammer this morning. I am selling an item on craigslist and was contacted by a charles schnaufer with a similar message. At this point, I have only replied to inform him that the item is still available. I am waiting for his reply…I will keep you informed.

charles schnaufer wants to buy my item on craigslist too. i was foolish and already gave him my name, address, and phone number. he replied that he’ll send the check tomorrow via USPS Express Mail (just like all the other cases above). now i know this is a scam. but did i already screw up? can he do some damage with my name, address, and phone number (AND email address)???? should i alert the authorities?

Sounds Good,
I will like to proceed with the transaction asap and my mode of payment will be via bank check drawn on my bank (Bank Of America) as there are too many scams online with bogus paypal payment and money orders,the item will be picked up from you by my shipper so you don’t have to worry about shipment of the item also the check will be sent with the fund to cover cost of item and also shipment by my shipping company due to company policy the amount i placed with my company can only be written on a single check so that is why i want you to receive the check and send the excess fund to my shippers that will arrange the pickup when the check clears at your bank,once your bank verify and cash the check you will deduct your fund and send the excess fund to the shipping company so they will proceed with the pickup because i also have other items to be picked up,i should have handled this myself but i am not available to do this now i am currently away for my company seminar that is why i want to handle the transaction in this manner to facilitate the transaction therefore proceed to delete the advert of this item if my mode of payment is accepted and get back to me with your Full name (Name on check),Mailing address (Deliverable Address) and phone number to send the check to you.

Update on Charles Schnaufer scam from 12/10 post above:
He replied that he sent the check and then asked why i was avoiding him! I told him everything about him was a scam & that if he wanted to purchase my item, i would only deal with him by phone and would only accept a check that i could take toany bank & wait for it to officially clear. He never replied back. I submitted a complaint with the REAL FBI in Phx, AZ & notified them that a check may be heading their way. They don’t reply to all complaints but maybe it at least started a file on this scum. Everyone here should look up their local FBI offices online. There is a link to report internet scammers.
Thanks for this website! It definitely saved me money, time, and a huge hassle. I discovered I am too trusting… Take care everyone!

I believe we just got an e-mail from a Craigslist scammer as well. Name: James Barrow

He only refers to what we are selling as “the item” and does not sign his e-mail. Also, does not ask any questions about it.

This is the e-mail he sends:

Hello,

I appreciate your quick response on this sales i am very much
satisfied with the condition and i want you to know that my term of
payment is by certified check drawn from us bank and i have my own
shipper that will come for the pick up of the item upon your
confirmation of receiving and cash the check, and again to let you
know that you don’t need another buyer for the item so do withdraw the
advert from CL and Get back to me with the following information to
have the check mail out to asap.

1.full name to write on the check
2.full physical address to mail the check to please not P.O BOX
3.Home & Cell Phone to contact you
4.More pictures

This is the one I got
I’m selling a dinning room set bc we r moving lol

Hello,
I appreciate your response to my inquiry.I am interested in
buying the items and i am ok with their description and conditions and
i am also satisfied with their price.I would have love to come and
check it myself but am not chance now,because I just got married and
am presently on honeymoon trip to Honolulu in Hawaii with my wife and
I would love a surprise change of furniture in our home on our return
because my wife like surprises. Please do withdraw the advert from the
website with immediate effect,as i don’t mind adding $50 for you to do
that for me,so i can be rest assured that the items are held for me,I
will be making the payment to you via a Certified Check in us dollars
which my secretary in united state will mail across to you and as for
the pick up,i will know how to handle that with my mover that as been
helping me to move in new furnitures into our home. My Mover will come
for the pick up once the Certified Check has been cashed and i will
like to complete this transaction before Saturday the 13th of
Febuary.If this arrangement is ok by you kindly send me both your name
and full address to post the payment immediately and i would
appreciate
you include your phone#,i.e….

(1)..Your full name
(2)..Your full home address or your office address
(3)..your zip code
(4)…your phone number to contact you

And please i don’t want a P.O BOX address because i want the payment
to get to you at your house or your office address to make the
transaction fast.Thanks and get back to me with the full info as soon
as possible.Thanks

Friday 2/26 within 3hrs I received emails for a Coca-Cola Display Refrig I am selling on Craigs list from (all gmail accts):

William Barron –Do you still have this for sale ?
john mark –i will like to know if the posted AD is still available for sale?
Ronald Segal –I wanna know if above item is still for sell and get back t me with the condition
robert caballero –Hello, Hope this item still available for sale ? Do get back to me asap…..
Robert C..

I only read Ronald Segal that morning before 8am Dr appt and I replied:

Hi, yes it is for sale and in good condition. Gets cold fast, works great. I will be away from the computer until noon. I will be available via text xxx-xxx-xxx until 8 or 8:30am. I will be back after 12pm.

I of course had given him my real cell ph#. When I got home from the Dr. I checked my email and saw the others and thought they were maybe the spam type where they reply back telling you not to sell your stuff…how they almost did the same thing but stumbled across a great money making opportunity and now making bank and i should check it out. So I responded to the other guys with: Yes I do but am almost certain this is a spam email.

Then I received this one from a guy who I HADN’T GIVEN ANY INFO TO YET! No reply as he refers to, NOTHING! :

Thanks for getting back me am ok with the price and the
condition..Thanks for the prompt response to my mail. I will be buying
it from you so please kindly withdraw the advert . Please to be informed that
i will pay you with a certified bank check and once you have the
check cashed at your bank then i will arrange for the pick up at your
place..I will need the following details to mail the payment as soon
as possible.

Pls note that FedEx/Ups does not deliver to P.O box and the payment
for the item will be overnight to your address asap.i really need this
item and i will appreciates you if you can help me to save item till
the payment arrives as it will save me some extra cost….and my
shipper will come as soon as you have the check cashed in hand, So
please send me an email only Regards

Thanks

Awaiting for your prompt response.
—
I just wanna know if this item is still available and get back to me
with condition of it thanks

SOOO, nothing from Friday until this morning 2/28: robert caballero
Hello,
Thanks for the prompt response and i will love to make an
instant purchase. My Office will be mailing (overnight) a certified
check from my account to cover the cost, while you hold on my
behalf.Once you have this, my mover will come for the pick up at your
place.
I will be needing the following information to issue out the payment .

1.Name to be on the check
2.Home address
3.Telephone
4.Zip code
Please note that the payment will be overnight by my Office to
your address and its bound to be delivered within 2 days. I have taken
a close look at the advert and am completely satisfied, i really need
this and would appreciates that you help save this till the payment
arrives. Furthermore do remove the posting as am definitely buying it
from you and it would be sad for me to have the payment in the mail
only to be alerted it as been sold when the check does arrives. Am A
Respectful Buyer On CL,
Regards.
—

THE ONLY RESPONSE I GAVE TO ROBERT WAS THE “NO SPAM PLEASE EMAIL”! So searched cert. check scams, came across this sight & used the FBI idea. Here is the reponse I am ready to send him now…

Wonderful! Just to let you know, I am really busy trying to sell my personal belongings on Craigs list by the 1st of next month (which is tomorrow). This helps so much because I have an eviction notice and am trying to avoid being thrown into the street with my 2 & 6 year old children. So I have asked a friend to help me out with your transaction as it seems a little time consuming. She works in Denver but it trustworthy and will handle this matter with the utmost care.

Use tracking for the mail, and make sure to pay for the mailing with your valid credit card. When you have noted that the check has arrived, let me know right away. I’ll go straight there and your mover can meet me immediately. I am having the item shipped there because the chances of your mover meeting me at my place are pretty slim. I am certain I will have been evicted, A.K.A. thrown into the street, by then. How’s that sound?

Thank you so much for making such a strong commitment to purchase my item you have closely viewed. As I am sure you already have seen, I removed the advert yesterday. Goodness knows I would not want to make YOU sad! Because I know how awful it feels when someone makes ME sad!

Best Regards,
Melissa

BTW I use Irene Williams b/c I don’t want my real name & personal email going out to all these strangers and scammers. I usually do not give my # either but I really am trying to avoid being evicted and I wanted to make sure he could get ahold of me since I had to leave the computer for the next 4+ hours.

SO AFTER THIS RIDICULOUS LONG EMAIL, I have a question. Should I not include FBI Denver & Fed Bldg in the address he is to use? Or shoud I find/and use an agents name? Or should I use the name from my email address?

I just listed my car on craigslist yesterday and at 5am I received an email from Charles Schnaufer saying that he is interested in it.
His email stated the following
“Do you still have this car for sale?
Get back to me asap.
Thanks”

So this person is a fraud ? This is the email address that he is using r#########1@gmail.com.
Glad I decided to google his name! So surprising that this has been going on for over a year now.

I got same e-mail from Charles Schnaufer who was interested in my car.
His email stated the following
“Do you still have this car for sale?
Get back to me asap.
Thanks”
So this person is a fraud ? This is the email address that he is using r#########1@gmail.com.

But,I gave my name, address and phone number..Should I call the police if he is a fraud? Can he use my information to do bad thing?

I have just received a check from this person. It came UPS with a business listed as the sender, the check was drawn on yet different business account. I was $1,860.95 over the amount owed. I am suppose to send this amount via western union to his mover. Now why would he hire a mover in Indiana to deliver a computer going from Phoenix, AZ to Denver, CO.??? That’s when I started doing a little investigating and found this site. I am now going to contact both companies & the FBI since it is a federal issue. Thank you for verifying my suspicions

Hilarious! i got the same message for an item i am selling on Craigslist and i thought i was fishy with my first reply that i would not furnish personal info. He sent a second message saying thank you for the prompt reply and again wanted the same info to send the certified check. I googled his name and found this blog – so glad i let my instincts guide me on this one:)

Hey, decided i should chat with you briefly. This economic condition sucks so awfully right now. i need to let in you in on that at the moment theres millions in govt grants for the taking right now around your area (buffalo) for pretty much anything you can imagine! buffalo breaking news hurry and check this out. The gov grants never ever have to be paid back!

Diane Fields

So I kindly respond by saying:

Thank you for your response. Your email has been sent to the FBI for verification.

It depends on how much info you had given him. That scumbag will probably sell your personal info so others can try to scam you, or he might save it for future scams through different types of email.

If he sends you the check, rip it up immediately. I’ve heard of others trying to cash the check only to get arrested for fraud. Do not take that chance. I say, if they really want what you’re selling, let them pay cash when they come to pick it up, period!

Thanks for the prompt response,i will like to proceed with the transaction asap and my mode of payment will be via Bank certified check. However, to ease the pick up the furniture will be picked-up from you by my shipper once you receive and cash the check,i am willing to wait for your bank to verify and clear the check before the shipper pickup the furniture therefore I’ll need this detail below to mail out the check.

* The Full name on check
* Mailing address (Deliverable Address)
* Phone Number

Proceed to delete the advert of this furniture if my mode of payment is accepted and get back to me asap with your details to mail out the check to you.

Thanks

—————-

I debated what to write back for at least a half an hour, before deciding on this:

Sounds good, but I don’t have a bank account. Why don’t you send me your telephone number so we can figure something out?

I just posted some furniture on Craigslist yesterday and have already received very similar letters from Charles. I wrote him back and told him that the furniture is available, but the terms are cash only as stated in the ad. He was using the freeme1001@gmail.com address. I have not heard back from him, but I did hear from another person Jannet Cretella whose letter sounded amazingly similar to Charles’ including the incorrect grammar “I will like to……” I am glad that I listened to my instincts and the warnings on Craigslist otherwise I might have made a serious mistake. My husband was encouraging me to do business with Charles because his letter sounded so convincing when he offered to wait until the bank cashed and cleared his check before picking up the furniture. It was at that point that I went back to the WARNINGS on Cragislist that talk about fake cashiers checks. It is SO unfortunate that there are terrible people out there waiting to do someone it. WHO can you trust anymore? I am just trying to sell some furniture because my parents both died in the past two years and I need to sell the stuff. The other scammers I heard from were telling me how I can make $4000 a month selling stuff with them. I am frankly disgusted and am just about ready to give the stuff away to charity! Interestingly, I DID list an item FREE on Craigslist and have not had one single response!

Enjoyed the great stories about the FBI. THAT was priceless and I think I will try it on my next “scammer”

How are you doing today? Thanks for the prompt response to my inquiry.
I hope this furniture is in perfect condition as I’m highly interested and
would have loved to come and take a look myself but i am a very busy man,
currently am at a seminar where calls are totally prohibited but
i can put a text message through and contact you
online for now. i hope you do understand ? due to the distance
i will like to make an instant purchase but if there is anything wrong,
you can kindly let me know and we can fix things up. I
won’t mind paying an additional $50 for you to take the
ad down from craigslist and also to be assured that it is already
mine.I will be paying you with a certified check and it is going to be
sent to you via courier service which is going to be mail to you as
soon as possible and for that, I’m going to need your details as
follows:

1.Full name to be on the payment.

2.Your home or office address which the payment will be delivered to

3.And your phone number in order to facilitate the payment asap.

My mover will be coming for the pick up as soon as you have the check
verified and cashed, so you don’t need to bother yourself about the shipping as
everything on that is well arranged.
Thanks and I’ll be waiting to hear from you
Have a wonderful day.
Regards

Got the same e-mail from a Jason Brian today to buy a 4 wheeler. Sent him my name and address and when the “shipper” comes for pick up, if he is for real can eat the cost of the trip for dealing with such scumbags without getting paid first. ( or the scammer can eat the cost if he did pay) If a phony check ever does show I will take it to the authorities myself.

I just posted some items for sale on craigs list and got an email from Charles Schnaufer. (Do you still have this furniture for sale?Get back to me asap. Thanks). The email he is using is: long14tabs@gmail.com

It seemed like a generic response to my sale item, so I did some searching on the internet and found this site. Thank you for having this here. It confirmed my suspicions.

Warning to everyone, always check out names and be suspicious. If it turns out to be legitamate thats great! Better safe then sorry!
Cathy

Got the following:
“Hello thank for the prompt response, i will like to proceed with this transaction asap with my mode of payment, will be via Bank certified check. However, to ease the pick up, the item will be picked-up from you by my shipper once you receive and cash the check,i am willing to wait for your bank to verify and clear the check before the shipper pickup the item therefore I’ll need this detail below to mail out the check”
Replied:
Brandon,
So sorry. Someone has already bought the go cart. He will be sending me a Bank Certified check on Monday. I already have the tracking number. It’s so funny but he also requested that I pull the ad the same way you did. Sorry again but he did come through first.
Thanks,
Don.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!! I got hit by Charles’ friend: Michael Frank (michael.frank01@gmail.com). Said all the same stuff you all said, was very busy, would like to move forward quickly, will send me a bank check, was on a business trip, has limited internet access, what’s the condition of the couch, all with bad grammar and misspelled words. He said his secretary made a mistake and sent me a check with my money and the mover’s money (of course he threw in $100 for “my running around”). About two weeks go by and I finally get not one, but two checks (yes, I was silly and gave him my address :o(). Thanks to all your fantastic posts I will not be cashing them, I certainly don’t have time to go to jail for fraud right now. My two questions: can he do anything with my information? And who do I bring these bad checks to? I’m thinking I’ll tell him I’m forwarding them to my father who “works with the FBI” and he’ll “cash” them for me…

Listed my furniture for sell on craigslist, and got the exact same message as the posts above me:

“Do you still have this furniture for sale?
Get back to me asap.

Thanks”

I told him yes and then got this:

“Thanks for the prompt response,i will like to proceed with the
transaction asap and my mode of payment will be via Bank certified
check. However, to ease the pick up the furniture will be picked-up
from you by my shipper once you receive and cash the check,i am
willing to wait for your bank to verify and clear the check before the
shipper pickup the furniture therefore I’ll need this detail below to
mail out the check.

* The Full name on check
* Mailing address (Deliverable Address)
* Phone Number

Proceed to delete the advert of this furniture if my mode of payment
is accepted and get back to me asap with your details to mail out the
certified check to you.”

Quick google search and said hello to this site. Thanks for info and heads up everyone. Keep an eye out. He was using freeme1001@gmail.com.

I am selling furniture on Craigslist and got the email below from Charles Schnaufer. I thought it sounded fishy, so I googled his name and found this website.

On Sat, Sep 4, 2010 at 5:14 PM, Charles Schnaufer wrote:

Thanks for the prompt response,i will like to proceed with the transaction asap and my mode of payment will be via Bank certified check. However, to ease the pick up the furniture will be picked-up from you by my shipper once you receive and cash the check,i am willing to wait for your bank to verify and clear the check before the shipper pickup the furniture therefore I’ll need this detail below to mail out the check.

* The Full name on check
* Mailing address (Deliverable Address)
* Phone Number

Proceed to delete the advert of this furniture if my mode of payment is accepted and get back to me asap with your details to mail out the certified check to you.

Thanks for the prompt response,i will like to proceed with the
transaction asap and my mode of payment will be via Bank certified
check. However, to ease the pick up the item will be picked-up from
you by my shipper once you receive and cash the check,i am willing to
wait for your bank to verify and clear the check before the shipper
pickup the item therefore I’ll need this detail below to mail out the
check.

* The Full name on check
* Mailing address (Deliverable Address)
* Phone Number

Proceed to delete the advert of this item if my mode of payment is
accepted and get back to me asap with your details to mail out the
certified check to you.

So Charles’ friend, Michael Frank is getting a little threatening with me after I emailed him 3 times that I will not be going through with his arrangement. He said “remember i have all your information” and said he would turn ME over to the local police for scamming him… Should I be nervous? Has anyone gotten lines like that?

Anyone heard of Brian Hanson? I thought about trading truckloads of emails, but I don’t have the energy for it, and I do want to sell the “items” LOL.

These emails are so predictable:

Thanks for your reply concerning my inquiry. I am quite comfortable with the condition of the item. Since I won’t be making any repairs on it, I will add $30 to the purchase price… for you to hold it for me,Please provide your full name, House Address (NOT A PO. BOX) and your Phone number so that I can send your payment. I will be paying you by Money Order.. It will take 2-3 days for the payment to get to you…As for delivery, I will make arrangements for the pick-up after you have received payment,If this meets your approval, kindly get back to me, as soon as possible, with your Full name, phone # and mailing address where payment will be sent, so that I can have my assistant get the Money Order ready.

Note:
As soon as you have your money in hand, we can talk about the picking up of the item.
I would like you to take the posting off craigslist.org today.

His address is hirretty2000@gmail.com. After I said they were local pick-up only, cash in hand, I haven’t heard a peep from him. Sigh…

heres another from Brian (the scammer) Nelson Hello,
How are you doing today? its a lovely piece you have there and i would like to know if its still available for sale.please let me know.
Thanks and have a wonderful day Hello,
How are you doing today? Thanks for the response to my inquiry.
But can you send me more pictures of the furniture so i can observe it properly.
I hope this furniture is in perfect condition as I’m highly interested and
would have loved to come and take a look myself but i am a very busy man,
currently am at a seminar where calls are totally prohibited but
i can put a text message through and contact you
online for now. i hope you do understand ? due to the distance
i will like to make an instant purchase but if there is anything wrong,
you can kindly let me know and we can fix things up. I
won’t mind paying an additional $50 for you to take the
ad down from craigslist and also to be assured that it is already
mine.I will be paying you with a certified check and it is going to be
sent to you via courier service which is going to be mail to you as
soon as possible and for that, I’m going to need your details as
follows:
1.Full name to be on the payment.

2.Your home or office address which the payment will be delivered to

3.And your phone number in order to facilitate the payment asap.

My mover will be coming for the pick up as soon as you have the check
verified and cashed, so you don’t need to bother yourself about the shipping as
everything on that is well arranged.
Thanks and I’ll be waiting to hear from you
Have a wonderful day.
Regards
Hello Raymond,
How are you today? I would say, am so impressed with the photos and would like you to send me the details I asked about earlier so your payment can be sent on monday.
Thanks I saw your mail and would like to assure you that payment would be mailed out to you tomorrow?
Thanks………… I just replied back after reading this blog..okay, Brian Nelson…your name and email has come up on a FBI scammers hotlist so this transaction is off. keep your check. lose my imfo. and please get a life. and do not reply. unless you would like me to contact the FBI for you.
Im sure I won’t hear back from him..thanks you all.

so glad I googled Brian Hanson before responding to his email. I have the EXACT same response from him… only willing to add an additional $50 to the purchase price LOL!
I may use your response to him re: the FBI.

Haha!! Now his name is Brian Hanson. His reply (listed below) sounded super creepy, so I googled him and the email he wrote from and found all of this. I was selling a dining set, so this sounded really odd. “take this posting down today…” Really?? Hilarious!! I got a reply from two emails (listed below as well)

Thanks for your reply concerning my inquiry. I am quite comfortable with the condition of the item. Since I won’t be making any repairs on it, I will add $30 to the purchase price… for you to hold it for me,Please provide your full name, House Address (NOT A PO. BOX) and your Phone number so that I can send your payment. I will be paying you by Money Order.. It will take 2-3 days for the payment to get to you…As for delivery, I will make arrangements for the pick-up after you have received payment,If this meets your approval, kindly get back to me, as soon as possible, with your Full name, phone # and mailing address where payment will be sent, so that I can have my assistant get the Money Order ready.

Note:
As soon as you have your money in hand, we can talk about the picking up of the item.
I would like you to take the posting off craigslist.org today.

Thanks all for posting your experience with this scammer. I was living on the West Coast last year and was contacted by the same person who just emailed me today and on the East Coast. Thought his email sounded rather familiar and desperate (how desperate can you be to have two chairs?) and googled his name. I think I may have some fun with this one……

Thank you for the Schnaufer information. I just responded to him letting him know the furniture I am selling is still available, but decided to check him out. I just sent him a second message letting him know that the furniture is no longer available to him and that I am not interested in dealing with crooks.

Okay,
The check will be sent to you today via USPS Express Mail and you will receive it on Wednesday,the check will be sent with the fund to cover cost of item and shipment so once your bank verify and cash the check you will deduct your fund and send the excess funds to the shipper so they will proceed with the pickup.

Thanks

damn…should have googled, I sent several return emails before giving any info – but alas…I’m sure he reads this too.

Hello,
The check will be delivered to your address today via USPS Express Mail,here is the USPS tracking number EO 982 711 392 US the check was sent to you directly from my company account and it was for $6000 so proceed to your bank to deposit the check and the funds will be available in your account within 24 hours,after the check clears your bank usually within 24hours of deposit you will deduct $2500 for your Dining Table and 8 Cantoni Ranus Chairs and send the excess fund of $3500 to my shipper so he can pickup the fund to pickup the Architects Natural Edge Dining Table and 8 Cantoni Ranus Chairs and other items i purchased to be picked up.
Note:this is a depository account so don’t try to cash the check instantly because the bank won’t cash it for you therefore you need to take the check to your bank regardless of the bank you’re using perhaps Bank of America,J. P. Morgan Chase,Wachovia,Wells Fargo or Credit Union they will verify the check with my bank and clear the funds into your account within 24hours of deposit.
Get back to me to confirm the receipt of the check today and proceed to deposit.

well, I got this out of them…there’s not two addresses of a half dozen even in the same state…I’ll just send them a check via a depository account for 10K…good grief

Okay,
Proceed to your bank to deposit the check and withdraw the excess fund($3500) then go to a Western Union outlet to send the funds to the shipper via Western Union Money Transfer to the shipping company head office in MA so they can pickup the funds and co-ordinate shipping with their branch office in your location,below is the shipper information to send the fund via Western Union Money Transfer :-

Western Union is available at any FOOD LION,RITE AID,SUPERMARKETS Store just go to any of the Western Union stores with the Cash(excess funds) and the Shipper Information above to transfer the funds to the shipper and after you sent the funds then email me the Western Union Details of the fund such as:-

(1) Money Transfer Control Number (MTCN)
(2) Actual amount sent after Western Union deduct Transfer fee from the funds
(3) Sender’s name (The name of the person that SENT the Western Union tranfer as filled on the transfer form)
(4) The full Address and phone # for the shipper to contact you for pickup.

Thanks

On Wed, Sep 29, 2010 at 7:30 PM, xxxxxxxxxx wrote:

I have received your check. You have not given me any information on the shipper. These are heavy items. Please reply to me with:

Hello,
The check will be delivered to your address today via USPS Express Mail,here is the USPS tracking number EO 982 XXX XXX US the check was sent to you directly from my company account and it was for $3500 so proceed to your bank to deposit the check and the funds will be available in your account within 24 hours,after the check clears your bank usually within 24hours of deposit you will deduct $1000 for your (Item) and send the excess fund of $2500 to my shipper so he can pickup the fund to pickup the (Item) and other items i purchased to be picked up.
Note:this is a depository account so don’t try to cash the check instantly because the bank won’t cash it for you therefore you need to take the check to your bank regardless of the bank you’re using perhaps Bank of America,J. P. Morgan Chase,Wachovia,Wells Fargo or Credit Union they will verify the check with my bank and clear the funds into your account within 24hours of deposit.
Get back to me to confirm the receipt of the check today and proceed to deposit.

Thanks
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
On Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 2:27 PM, Jerry Watts wrote:
Goodmorning,
I got a confirmation mail from my bank this morning that the check was processed successfully,therefore proceed to your bank today to withdraw the excess fund($2500) then go to a Western Union outlet to send the funds to the shipper via Western Union Money Transfer to the shipping company head office in North Carolina so they can pickup the funds and co-ordinate shipping with their branch office in your location,below is the shipper information to send the fund via Western Union Money Transfer :-

Western Union is available at any FOOD LION,RITE AID,SUPERMARKETS Store just go to any of the Western Union stores with the Cash(excess funds) and the Shipper Information above to transfer the funds to the shipper and after you sent the funds then email me the Western Union Details of the fund such as:-

(1) Money Transfer Control Number (MTCN)
(2) Actual amount sent after Western Union deduct Transfer fee from the funds
(3) Sender’s name (The name of the person that SENT the Western Union tranfer as filled on the transfer form)
(4) The full Address and phone # for the shipper to contact you for pickup.
(5) Send me a scan copy of the Western Union receipt for records

Goodmorning,
I got a confirmation mail from my bank this morning that the check was processed successfully,therefore proceed to your bank to withdraw the excess fund and go to a Western Union store to send the funds to the shipper via Western Union Money Transfer and get back to me with the details.

Very Interesting… Can’t wait to hear the end of this story. What is this guy doing?? Stealing bank info? Laundering money through craig’s list?? Surely he isn’t just seeing how far he can string people along. Pretty crazy and a little bit scary!!

Thanks for your reply concerning my inquiry. I am quite comfortable with the condition of the item. Since I won’t be making any repairs on it, I will add $30 to the purchase price… for you to hold it for me,Please provide your full name, House Address (NOT A PO. BOX) and your Phone number so that I can send your payment. I will be paying you by Money Order.. It will take 2-3 days for the payment to get to you…As for delivery, I will make arrangements for the pick-up after you have received payment,If this meets your approval, kindly get back to me, as soon as possible, with your Full name, phone # and mailing address where payment will be sent, so that I can have my assistant get the Money Order ready.

Note:
As soon as you have your money in hand, we can talk about the picking up of the item.
I would like you to take the posting off craigslist.org today.

Brian Hanson

Told him I only accept cash, so I’m expecting to hear nothing further. Too bad, I was hoping to have actually sold the item, but his email sounded off. Glad I checked it out.

Jerry Watts emailed me from a craigslist ad, asked if I still had “the item” and wanted me to get back with him asap

I normally put my phone number in craigslist ads, and check the box to hide the email link because I’ve had these problems before. But I accidentally left the email enabled on this craigslist ad. His inquiry sounded suspicious and I’m glad I googled “jerry watts” along with his email address ( XXXXX015@gmail.com ) and landed here. I won’t bother replying to him of course.

much props to this thread. i have had 5 inquirers on my craigslist item (PS3) and all are fishy. their names have been mike salman, macgeady, honey cole, Segun Adeniyi, and my personal favorite alba jessicaj. lmao holy crap another one Drazen Scott. its been posted for 2 hrs now. out of control. does any legit people use the site

I received an email asking me if I still have “the item” for sale, I responded to him and below is the email I just received. It seemed a little weird to me so I googled his name and found this site. Thanks much for all this info! I will NOT be responding!

Thanks for the prompt response,i will like to proceed with the
transaction asap and my mode of payment will be via (E-CHECK)
electronic cashier check drawn on my Bank(Bank of America),it’s a bank
certified check you just have to print it out for approval However, to
ease the pick up the item will be picked-up from you by my shipper
once you receive,print and cash the check,i am willing to wait for
your bank to verify and clear the check before the shipper pickup the
item therefore all you need to do to receive your payment is purchase
Versa Check Paper (Business Check perhaps Form 1000 or Form 3000 or
any form compatible with Business checks) cost less than $30 and I’ll
add $100 to your payment for the cost of Versa check paper and
troubles this supplies is available at the following stores:-

Get back to me once the Versa check paper is purchased and let me know
the actual package you purchased so you can print out the check and
cash it immediately.
Once again this is the only method of payment i can use as i am
currently away for my company seminar and need to handle the payment
online so you can get paid before the shipper show up for
pickup,proceed to purchase the Versa Check Paper(Business Check) today
so we can get this all done today.

Thank You!

*** I ACTUALLY DID PUT MY PHONE # ON THE CRAIGLIST AD,….. SHOULD I BE CONCERED???

“Thanks for the swift response to me ,i will want you to know that
there will be shipping company coming for the pick up as soon as you
get the payment and i will want you to get back to me as soon as you
get the payment so that we can arrange the pick up in time and i will
want you to know that shipping agent handily funds will added with the
payment and i will be happy if you consider the complete Novatron
studio lighting is my
because this is my first time buying here on this site,and i want to
know if i can trust you with the shipping funds that will be added when you
deduct your own money so i will want to know if i can trust you

This is my contribution to the discussion…it sounded fishy to me right away…

Thanks for your reply concerning my inquiry. I am quite comfortable with the condition of the item. Since I won’t be making any repairs on it, I will add $50 to the purchase price… for you to hold it for me,Please provide your full name, House Address (NOT A PO. BOX) and your Phone number so that I can send your payment. I will be paying you by Money Order.. It will take 2-3 days for the payment to get to you…As for delivery, I will make arrangements for the pick-up after you have received payment,If this meets your approval, kindly get back to me, as soon as possible, with your Full name, phone # and mailing address where payment will be sent, so that I can have my assistant get the Money Order ready.

Note:
As soon as you have your money in hand, we can talk about the picking up of the item.
I would like you to take the posting off craigslist.org today.

Well, recieved this email today (see below) plus a check sent overnight UPS, from drawn on a Robert Tisdale with a Bank of America account at a location that does not exsist, the ups package came from Palm Beach fl, so I am going to send the check ($2300) to the account holder. My sale item was only for $250.00.
If they want to spend money on courier services..so be it, I’m not falling for it

Hello ,
How are you doing….I really want to thank you for the honest
and trustworthy you are having towards this transaction…Atlast i
got to inform you that the payment will deliver to you today Via Ups
Courier Services..here is the tracking number for the confirmation
{ J200 752 0078} you can track it via http://www.ups.com.So i will want you to
follow the instruction on what to do about the shipping freight and
handling and the pick up arrangement .So once you have the payment
with you now just get it deposited in you bank and deduct your
actual amount for the item plus extra $50 for your patience in
receiving the check and for your running arounds and honesty which you
are to send the remaining fund send Via money gram transfer
to the shipper information below for them to come for the pick up in
your location since their freight and handling fee is been included
with the money sent to you because they have some other items to pick
up for me in some locations so here is their information to get the
funds send Via Money Gram Transfer as soon as you receive the
check

Charles Schnaufer scam? Sounds like it. I got suspicious a little to late & gave name, address and phone number but haven’t received check yet. Sounds like these people just want the money but has there been issues or threats to those who gave out their addresses? Thanks, saved my butt money-wise. Live and learn.

Thanks for the prompt response,i will like to proceed with the
transaction asap and my mode of payment will be via Bank certified
check. However, to ease the pick up the furniture will be picked-up
from you by my shipper once you receive and cash the check,i am
willing to wait for your bank to verify and clear the check before the
shipper pickup the furniture therefore I’ll need this detail below to
mail out the check.

* The Full name on check
* Mailing address (Deliverable Address)
* Phone Number

Proceed to delete the advert of this furniture if my mode of payment
is accepted and get back to me asap with your details to mail out the
certified check to you.

Oh, this is rich! I posted a dining room set on Craigslist.com and got two similar responses within a couple hours…. one is from Martins Scot. The other one is from a David Morissette : XXXXXXX @ XXXX.com

from Martins Scot
to J W
date Fri, Dec 3, 2010 at 9:02 AM
subject OK 1940’s Mahogany Federal Style Formal Dining Set – $1000 (Winchester/Warrenton/Fredericksburg)
mailed-by gmail.com
signed-by gmail.com
hide details 9:02 AM (2 hours ago)
Thanks you for the response according to the description, am okay with
the price and the condition pasted on cl. I am ready to make instant
purchase. My mode of payment would be in CERTIFIED CHECK and i
willarrange for a local pick up as soon as you get the check, because
that is the only convenient means for me and due to my work frame i
can not be able to get there and i promise everything will go
smoothly. really wish to be there to check out the item but i don’t
have chancecause am very busy man. Concerning the pick up, i will
arrange for in after you receive the payment and it clears… Please
get back to me with below info so that i can proceed with the payment
immediately ifyou are selling to me.

Name:
Address:Not p.o box
City:
State:
Postal Code:
Phone Number:

And as soon as this is provided, the payment will be overnight to you
and i will let you know when its mailed out. Thanks and i hope we
handle this in good faith while waiting to hear from you. i will add
an additional $50 so that you can hold it for me till the check reach
you.

email……Brian Hanson
Thanks for your reply concerning my inquiry. I am quite comfortable with the condition of the item. Since I won’t be making any repairs on it, I will add $50 to the purchase price… for you to hold it for me,Please provide your full name, House Address (NOT A PO. BOX) and your Phone number so that I can send your payment. I will be paying you by Money Order.. It will take 2-3 days for the payment to get to you…As for delivery, I will make arrangements for the pick-up after you have received payment,If this meets your approval, kindly get back to me, as soon as possible, with your Full name, phone # and mailing address where payment will be sent, so that I can have my assistant get the Money Order ready.

Note:
As soon as you have your money in hand, we can talk about the picking up of the item.
I would like you to take the posting off craigslist.org today.

OK. Before I sell you this bunk bed I would like to disclose that my grandmother passed away in the bed and we did not find her body until we came back from our vacation in Nigeria. We suspect that the bed might have some termites living in it. Along with the bed, you must also take possession of my Mother-in-Law she currently sleeps in the bed and WILL NOT move. I cannot accept your check, but I will accept your CASH, so please send it overnight and come pick-up the bed (and my Mother-in-Law). Thanks!! If you’re still interested AND this is NOT a scam, send me your phone number and we can arrange the sale.

Thanks for the prompt response,i will like to proceed with the
transaction asap and my mode of payment will be via Bank certified
check. However, to ease the pick up the furniture will be picked-up
from you by my shipper once you receive and cash the check,i am
willing to wait for your bank to verify and clear the check before the
shipper pickup the furniture therefore I’ll need this detail below to
mail out the check.

* The Full name on check
* Mailing address (Deliverable Address)
* Phone Number

Proceed to delete the advert of this furniture if my mode of payment
is accepted and get back to me asap with your details to mail out the
certified check to you.

I’m glad it’s still for sale. I’m going on a vacation to London but I will instruct my assistant to prepare and mail you your payment which I’m sure you will get it in about 4 – 6 business days. I’ll add $30 extra for the delay. Money Order or cashier check is the means I can pay you with. If this is acceptable by you, Send me your info (i.e full name, mailing address and your phone number) so payment can be mail out immediately. I will also make
arrangement for pick-up which will be after you must have received and cashed the payment.

I received two fake emails within hours of posting furniture for sale on Craigslist. One of them was from a Sophia, providing a phone number bc she is apparently speech impaired….googled the number and found quickly it was a scam. That inquiry was followed by one from a Dave Wilson stating the following:

Hi, is the item still available and in pristine condition?

After I responded yes and if he lived in the area, this is what i got….

Hello
I appreciate your response to my inquiry. I would love to come and
check it myself but I just got married and am presently on an
honeymoon trip to Hawaii with my wife. I would love a surprise change
of furniture in our home on our return. Pls do withdraw ,with
immediate effect, the advert from Web as i don’t mind adding $50 for
you to do that, so i can be rest assured that the item is held for me.
I should believe it is in good condition as stated. I will be making
the payment via a Certified Check, which my secretary will mail
across to you. I’ll be picking the item from you with the aid of my
mover. My Mover will be coming to pick it from you once the Certified
Check has been cashed. Pls I will need both your full name and
physical address along with you phone number to issue out the payment.
I await your urgent response.
Dave.

I dont ever give out my information and so in return I will be using your FBI address as a perfect response. Thanks

If I already made the mistake of giving my name and phone and business mailing address and I report this to the authorities will this person know I reported them and come after me? The website to report these things does not guarantee confidentiality in every state…

I got this from Brian Hanson today. I’m glad I googled him and found out he was a scammer. I think he’s just out to collect people’s info and perhaps steal identities? Thanks bloggers!

Thanks for your reply concerning my inquiry. I am quite comfortable with the condition of the item. Since I won’t be making any repairs on it, I will add $100 to the purchase price… for you to hold it for me,Please provide your full name, House Address (NOT A PO. BOX) and your Phone number so that I can send your payment. I will be paying you by Cashier Check.. It will take 2-3 days for the payment to get to you…As for delivery, I will make arrangements for the pick-up after you have received payment,If this meets your approval, kindly get back to me, as soon as possible, with your Full name, phone # and mailing address where payment will be sent, so that I can have my assistant get the Cashier Check ready.

Note:
As soon as you have your money in hand, we can talk about the picking up of the item.
I would like you to take the posting off craigslist.org today.

I get these scam emails everytime I list a car for sale, or a house for rent. I tell them to go ahead and send the check and I just email them the name, phone number and address of our state attorney general. It’s a hoot!

I’ve had three of these scammers in the last day contact me. Names that are popping up related to their email addresses are; Captain Giggs, King Jerry, Travis Coker.

This is the email that I got from Coker. Love the part at the end where he says he would have called but he is deaf.

Hello,

Thanks for the swift response,as the furniture is still available, I
will send a check to cover the cost of my purchase as am completely
satisfied with the “ad”.I will need the details of whom & where to
mail the draft.It will be delivered by the a courier service within
2-3 days.Please note the courier service do not deliver to P.O.Box
addresses.

1.Name to be on the check
2.Home address
3.Mobile #

Kindly delete the advert on Craig’s List as am totally committed to
buying from you and My mover will be coming over for the pick up after
you must have received and cashed the check, Also I would have love to
call but I’m a deaf, So please send me an email only.

Thanks for the prompt response,i will like to proceed with the
transaction asap and my mode of payment will be via Bank certified
check. However, to ease the pick up the item will be picked-up from
you by my shipper once you receive and cash the check,i am willing to
wait for your bank to verify and clear the check before the shipper
pickup the item therefore I’ll need this detail below to mail out the
check.

* The Full name on check
* Mailing address (Deliverable Address)
* Phone Number

Proceed to delete the advert of this item if my mode of payment is
accepted and get back to me asap with your details to mail out the
certified check to you.

Re Charles Schnaufer: going through the same song and dance others have, but I don’t hear anybody saying that he’s harmed them in any way. Several people have actually received checks and had them clear.

For those who did, did you proceed with wiring the excess funds to his “shipper”? What happened after that?

It’s obvious he’s making his money from these grossly inflated shipping charges, but it sounds like the sellers are getting their cash and coming out okay. Has anybody experienced any fallout from him?

Thank you for posting about Charles Schnaufer…he just downloaded a free trial of the software my company sells (not selling on Craigslist) but he listed that he WORKS for Craigslist. As much as I would like to play with him, I just shut down the software. Again thanks for the heads up.

I received a “TTY” (capability for deaf to communicate) call from a person interested in a mobility chair I posted. The person indicated he had a client who needed it immediately. I live in the southwest and he indicated he is in Rhode Island. He sent me e-mails stating he wanted to send a check with extra money to send by Western Union to pay “his shipper”. His shipping cost is more than the price of the chair. Duh!!! I e-mailed back requesting specific information about his shipper (name of contact, address, phone number, state license number, bonding agent, verifiable agent in my area, etc). I work as a shipping agent of small and large items around the world and am very familiar with the process. Have not heard back from him e-mail or TTY.

I got a reply from Brian Hanson about my entertainment center along with the same “I’ll pay $50 more if you hold it for me and send me your info so I can get you a money order”. I sent him the address to the FBI.

I listed my laptop on Gumtree and have had a suspicious email from Craig Morgan:

hello,please I’m very interested in this merchandise i will offer you £130

I replied asking him when he would be free to pick the “merchandise” up

Thanks for getting back to me on this….Am really interested in your
”merchandise” and am buying it for one of my twin brother schooling
in abroad as birthday gift, but i will not be able to come and pick it
up and pay cash because am out of town presently and it will take me
some months to be back in town, what will happen is that i will be
paying £70 for the shipping via royal mail and i will be paying in a
secure way which is PayPal curse PayPal is secure and safe and fast to
send money online so kindly get back to me with your PayPal email
account so that i can make the payment asap….And also i will offer
you £130 for the merchandise.

I just gave his email address as my paypal address so ill await his reply.

I also had contact with Mr. Charles Schnaufer with the same promises to send check to cover purchase and shipping cost of my item. Happy I decided to do a search of this person and found out he is an internet scammer.

arghhh. I did not search his name first, and I got caught up in it… here is the email I received from Brian Hanson:

Thanks for your reply concerning my inquiry. I am quite comfortable with the condition of the item. Since I won’t be making any repairs on it, I will add $50 to the purchase price… for you to hold it for me,Please provide your full name, House Address (NOT A PO. BOX) and your Phone number so that I can send your payment. I will be paying you by Money Order.. It will take 2-3 days for the payment to get to you…As for delivery, I will make arrangements for the pick-up after you have received payment,If this meets your approval, kindly get back to me, as soon as possible, with your Full name, phone # and mailing address where payment will be sent, so that I can have my assistant get the Money Order ready.

Note:
As soon as you have your money in hand, we can talk about the picking up of the item.
I would like you to take the posting off craigslist.org today.

Brian Hanson

I cannot believe I fell for this…. I should have known something was up when he talked about having an assistant send the money. argh. Here are the 2 new email addresses he is using (I did google the email addresses, although only after I replied to him with my phone and address… yes I know I am an idiot…. and when I didn’t find anything I got even more suspicious):

Xxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxx

so at this point should I respond back and tell him to go F himself, or just wait til the money order comes and report it to police?

Thank you for the response, I will be sending a Certified Draft which
is generally acceptable to cover the cost as am completely
interested. I will need the details below of whom & where to mail the
payment;

1.Name to be on the check
2.Home or office address
3.Cellphone number

Please note FedEx do not deliver to P.O Box. However, my mover will
pick up the item right after the payment as been delivered. Kindly
delete the posting as am committed to buying it. I recently move here
on a job transfer and it’s a great buy. Here is my relay # (832)
390-0679 am hearing impaired and will receive your phone messages
via email. Hope to read from you shortly. Best regards.

Thanks to all for this info. I’m trying to sell a saddle and this guy sent me an email. It looked fishy, so I googled him and came to this site. Can’t wait for his next move How can he survive so long without getting caught????

I’ve received several similar scams recently on Craigslist. When I received the second one I decided to have fun…

++++++++++++

I’m excited to hear you are interested. I am sending you the details of my agent as I am a very busy woman and don’t handle my own transactions. I am sure you understand.

Robert Mueller
935 Pennslvania Ave NW
Washington DC 20535

Regrettably we can’t take the ad off Craigslist until the check clears.

Have a nice day!

+++++++++++++++
And the reply I received the next day…

Thanks for the email I have ordered my secretary to issue your payment immediately and this will take about 2 – 3 days to get to you via courier service so I will suggest you get back to me so as to notify that you have receive payment so that my shipper can come for pick up as soon as you have the check. I will be glad and thanks for your understanding.

+++++++++++++++
Clearly the person doesn’t think it’s very fishy that some lady in Illinois has someone in Washington DC handle her financial transactions.

Here’s the latest from this Brian Hanson (not the TV guy!) and the current e-mail address he’s using is: XXX@XXX.com

“Thanks for your reply concerning my inquiry. I am quite comfortable with the condition of the item. Since I won’t be making any repairs on it, I will add $50 to the purchase price… for you to hold it for me,Please provide your full name, House Address (NOT A PO. BOX) and your Phone number so that I can send your payment. I will be paying you by Money Order.. It will take 2-3 days for the payment to get to you…As for delivery, I will make arrangements for the pick-up after you have received payment,If this meets your approval, kindly get back to me, as soon as possible, with your Full name, phone # and mailing address where payment will be sent, so that I can have my assistant get the Money Order ready.

Note:
As soon as you have your money in hand, we can talk about the picking up of the item.
I would like you to take the posting off craigslist.org today.”

Charles Schnaufer strikes again. Unfortunately I didnt catch the scam in time, but I am still in contact with him and he thinks he is going to get me again, What can i do here to try to catch this guy?

I received a similar email as the rest of you today! I had a bad feeling about it all and discovered this website in my search about certified bank checks! I can say thank you in advance and the FBI thing is awesome! I will find the address to my FBI headquarters and send him that see what happens lol! Thanks so much!

Received this email from scammer today , sarah smith [sarahsmith0077@XXXX], unfortunately I thought she was legit until I received this morning’s email. In a previous email to her, I did provide my personal info. If I receive a check in the mail, as long as I don’t do anything with it, then I’m ok, right? Wish I would have caught on sooner and used the FBI address thing. This is the first time I have used craigslist and was excited about selling my item. Should have known better because busy people who have assistants usually know how to spell “because” and not keep saying, “cos”.
———————————————————————————————————–

I hope you are fine and alright. I have been busy myself but doing great cos i just got married and am having my honeymoon at the moment.
There is something i think i must bring to your notice. After a reconciliation of my account lastnight, i discovered that somehow my assistant must have over paid you. The payment that was meant for another transaction was sent to you and the one meant for you was sent to another, however i want to believe i wont have a problem with you.Please once you receive your payment, i will like you to deduct your money and send the remaining via western union to the shipping company that will help me with the pick-up. I will ask them to contact you as soon as possible .Let me know as soon as you get your payment.
Warm regards.

Same happened to me today twice
I am glad I searched the email first and then I found this website. A lot of these people are from Nigeria. I am afraid they use names and addresses for other purposes, maybe even fake IDs.
I told both of them I needed their info as well. I don’t think they will reply again.

Thanks for your response to my email, I like as it stated also I have
review the advert and am completely satisfied, So am ready for the
purchase, I’ll want you to remove the advert from web and consider
this item is sold to me, I’ll be paying via cashier check and the
check will deliver to you very soon . So i want to be the best offer
by adding $30 to your money then keep other offers off

Your Full Name
Contact Physical Address not p.o box
City and State with Zip Code
Cell phone number

I will like you to know that you will not be responsible for shipping
i will have my mover to come over as soon as you have the check,and i
will get back to you once my secretary made the payment out to you.
Thanks

Hey all, I got a reply similar to this for a large item I had listed on craigslist. The name was “Faith Micheal” and did not use the same gmail address in either email.

He initially emailed

—
Still available for sale ????

My response was “Yes it is.”

“Faith Micheal” replies:
———–
Thanks for the mail, i will be happy if you can tell other buyer that the item has been sold because i would like this transaction to occur
within the next Hours. I’m seriously interested in buying this for my Father and am okay with your selling price, .i want to be the best offer by adding $100 to your money then keep other offers off, I’m a Petroleum Engineer and currently offshore i really want this as a surprise gift for my Father so i won’t let him know anything about this until it get delivered to him. You can mail me back with your
PayPal email address so i can make the payment to you right now and if you don’t have an account with PayPal you can set up an account today
as it’s secured and reliable visit their website on http://www.paypal.com i will be responsible for the payment fees/charges on
this transaction. Do not worry about shipping or picking up as my pick up agent will come and pick it up from you once have made the payment
to you and i will also need the information below :

Or My Office will be mailing (overnight) certified check from my account to cover the cost, If you are not intresting in Paypal you can
get back to me with the information below to make the Certified check to you and i will wait for it to clear to you account ok… I will be
needing the following information to issue out the payment . . .

Please note that the payment will be overnight by my Office to your address and its bound to be delivered within 2 days. I have taken a
close look at the advert and am completely satisfied, i really need this and would appreciates that you help save this till the payment
arrives. Furthermore .. I will like you to know that you will not be responsible for shipping,i will have my mover come over for the
pick-up Am A Respectful Buyer On CL, I await your reply……
Regards.
—————-

I did not reply at all to this moron after this. Red flags went off in my head so I googled his name and email addresses and stumbled on this blog.

Something seemed fishy especially about wanting to finish the deal on a Saturday night and the paypal bit which seems to be a new twist.

At this point the FBI bit sounds funny, but not something I am going to do. I am just going to ignore it.

I found this site too late. He actually sent me a check for well over the sale amount. Here is his response to my not cashing blatantly obvious bogus check:
____________________________________________________________________
URGENT REPLY OR ELSE YOU WILL BE JAIL IN THE NEXT 24HOURS

From: John Danielle
To: redacted

Hello,this now seems to me that you want to run away with my hard
earned money..i will have to involve the FBI and the local CIA on this
cos it seems you want to screw me.and you have refused to reply my
mails concerning the money i sent to you..all our conversation chain
is been watched by the federal bureau..and besides,i have a cousin
that works as a fraud investigator for FBI..i will be giving you 24hrs
to get back to me with the money transfer details or else…bye

FBI Newark
11 Centre Place
Newark, New Jersey
(973) 792-3035
newark.fbi.gov
(973) 792-3000
_____________________________________________________________________
So now he is trying to use the FBI bit as a scare tactic.

Here an update ton the situtation with the scammer using an illegal paypal. Just when I turned over the entire matter to the fraud division of paypal, I thought the whole thing was over. The scammer sent me a fraud email from the FBI saying I owe him the money. The email is interesting, contains pictures of the director of the FBI and other pictures of the FBI catching criminals in their homes; all designed to scare me into paying the money to the shipper/handler. So, I forwarded the email to fraud division of paypal. I think I may also send it to the FBI, the real one. Funny thing, I keep telling the scammer that I’m reporting he or she to the FBI and paypal, and he keeps sending me notes telling me that Im guilty of breaking a contract. This is the strangest thing I’ve seen lately. You would think he would back off but no, he’s still pursuing me. By the way, if this happens to you, contact Paypal directly. They can offer assistance.

Not only was I contacted by Charles Schnaufer he must have forgotten what name he was using for the scam and then used Jerry Watts. When I got the email for Watts I checked and his name was listed in other sites as SCAMMER. THANK YOU FOR YOUR POSTING! I returned his email about payment with directing him to the FBI. My only hope for people like this is that Karma comes to visit them for a very long time. Thanks again for yours and everyones posting they were very helpful. Gee I wonder if he will get back to me anytime soon not likely huh?

The Skammer:
I am okay with the price of this item and the condition of items and i will like to make an outright purchase of this particular item immediately because i am in need of it and i want to get it as soon as possible, I anticipate that a cashier check or certified check will be sent to you via express mail or ups or Fedex as the mode of payment, concerning the pickup, i will be responsible for that, where the mover will come for the pick up at your location upon your confirmation of receiving the payment and i want you to remove this item from the ad now. So i will send the payment which will include the pick up charges, in which you will make payable to the mover via
money gramm/westernunion immediately after you have receive the payment and you will be compensated with $50 extra for your running around to the money gram/westernunion outlet to avoid the delay. And I would really
love to come for the viewing but due to my work frame that might not be possible…… and I will like you to provide the following payment information as soon as possible;
full name …………………………………….

Full home address (physical)………………
City…………………….. ………………….
state……………………. …………………..
zip code…………………….. ………………..
tel#…………………….. ……………………
As soon as this is provided i will let you know when payment is mailed out and i will update you on when you will receive the payment and give you instructions on what to do….thanks and i hope we handle this in good
faith……
Thanks.

Well I have come across a ton of these as I sell items on Craigslist. I however am looking forward to having some fun with them. Basically I am leading them on to the point where they send me the check.

Check #1 – I email him and tell him the package was left out in the rain, please resend the check as it was ruined. If that leads to check #2
Check #2 – Delay, Delay, Delay eventually telling him I never received the second check, accuse him of wasting my time and inform him I need to raise the price if he wants the item for real. Hope for Check #3.
Check # 3 – By now perhaps mail the scammer a picture of the item with a picture of my wall of scammed checks. Or try and keep it going for as long as I can. It doesn’t cost me anything and at least I’m hitting them for the shipping costs.

Great news !! Today I received a check, FEDEX Priority overnight ! And for even more than I’m asking …lol the check is for $2500.00 and made out from Wells Fargo Supposedly.

I quickly emailed Gordon and informed him that I received his package but rain here was so bad that it wet the check and the bank would not take it. I told him it was for the better because I had a counter offer for a much higher amount. However, being honorable I would allow him to send me another check and match the current offer … lol

If he falls for this, he’ll be out 2 overnight priority rates and then I will go to a local Wells Fargo to inquire about the legitimacy of the check. The check looks like a check you can buy from Office Depot and has a printed signature that says JEFF on it.

The company name on the check is from California, I may take some time to look into it. Here is the info so you guys can have some fun as well.

Sent him an email explaining that rain damaged the check to please send another one. I haven’t heard back from him. I’m guessing once they make contact and have the check mailed they do not follow up. It must be a numbers game for them , eventually someone sends the money to their shipper and the cycle just keeps on going.

OK got a second one on the hook. This is called Dwayne. When I received the overnight package it was sent from another woman then inside the check was made out from a third person and for triple the amount I needed.
So I emailed back and said the check was damaged by rain. After that we went back and forth with a dozen emails as he / she tried to get me to give them a phone number. After explaining that I was out of the country and it easier to communicate via my BlackBerry (lol), it hesitantly said it would send out another check …

Whoo Hoo a second check from a scammer. Now I need a good story for a third check. lol

I might tell it that my bank is small and is holding the check for 3 weeks until the check clears on their end as well. Or maybe claim that it was taken from my doorstep and to put a hold on the check. lol

Who knows, but fun times ahead and I have three checks that make up my bulletin board at work now .. Overnight mail isn’t cheap ..

Been through this all before, even went so far as to set up a bogus sale and had them send the “check” to a nosy neighbor of mine who has opened some of my mail with checks in it, I of course had all the info in his name, I’m pretty sure he tried to cash the check, just love paybacks.
I also used the senders acct number on the overnight packages, just fill some overnight packages with garbage and send it back to them at their expense, and of course its from them to them.

The scammers are also using the name Rebecca Laker. My mother received the following email today after posting an ad for some theater chairs on Craigslist. Thanks everyone for posting all this information about your experiences. I was able to tell Mom to avoid these creeps like the plague. Here is “Rebecca’s” message:

Hello,

Thanks for the reply,how is your day i hope you having a nice
time,just to let you know that am okay with the condition and price of
the item, am ready for its purchase and my form of payment will be by
sending you Money order via UPS next day delivery. I’ll be
responsible for the pick-up of the item at your location and the
shipper money will be included in your payment to avoid delay and to
enable the shipping company to schedule an appropriate time for the
pick-up at your location after check has been cashed,as i have other
properties to be moved alongside with yours. I would have really love
to come for the viewing but due to my work frame that might not be
possible,but if you have more pictures that you might want me to have
a good look at send them to me . Please do get back to me with your
full name and address including your cell and land number so i can
make out payment.

I have been playing with scammers for a few years now. I always tell them that I sold the car before their check came in the mail, therefore I would send them back more money. Then I tell them I wired the money and give them a bogus number. They will email you back constantly trying to get the correct western union wire number. It’s fun to waste some of their time and they seem extra excited when they think they are getting more money.

Found this site after dealing with an “Andrew Cole”. My gut told me something was wrong but only after I gave him my mailing address, name and cell phone number. I found this site and realized that I was just scammed. It’s the same scam that everyone is talking about above with the Craiglist purchase and sending an extra $50 for any inconvenience and then he sent more than the amount and wanted to know if he could trust me to send the difference to his mover by Western Union. The American name with no command of the English language alerted me at first, but thought – oh well. Then the western union and the movers finally cinched it for me. Just wanted to give you another fraudulent name to add to your list “Andrew Cole”. Thanks for being there. BTW – the FBI address and phone number reply made me laugh out loud. Wish I had thought of that.

Hey guys I just wanted to let you all know that he is still doing this!! I just got a email from him saying the same stuff that he has used for other people. Now I’m. Glad I found out this information before my transaction went thru. Thanks for the update.

The guys real email is schnau28fer at yahoo.fr I got one from him at freeme1001 at gmail.com but it was an alias for schnau28fer at yahoo.fr because I have spyware on my phone and it automatically shows me alias email address and the “real” address it came from.

So I was trying to sell a tanning bed on Craigslist and had a “William Barron” attempt to want to buy it. From the beginning it seemed odd to me. I replied to the first email and then when he replied it came back with a different email address. So I googled “William Barron Craigslist” and “Bill Barron Craigslist”. With those I found this site and most of the posting seemed very similar to mine.
Below is cut and paste of the emails, enjoy.

From: “aseto asisat”
shoot me an email if ur item is still in good condition and ready for sale

My reply basically yes still have it.
Next

From: “williams barron”
Thanks for the your prompt response and i have decided and concluded
to buy the item from you. I am OK with the prize listed on
craigslist.And I would be very glad to inform you that, My Office will
be mailing overnight certified check from my salary to cover the cost
of the item as you requested,pls do withdraw the advert from
craigslist to avoid disturbance from another buyer..i will arrange for
a local pick up as soon as you get the check, So i want to be the
bestoffer by offering you extra $30 to your money as the best offer
and i hope you will keep this item for me.also email the pics to my
email address, I will be needing the following information to issue
out the payment ..

And as soon as this is provided, i will contact my My Office to issue
out the payment to you and the payment will be overnight to you and i
will let you know when its mailed out. i hope we can handle this in
good faith while waiting to hear from you.., i will add an additional
of $50 so that you can hold it for me until you receive the check…I
await ur response asap

Best Regard,

William Barron

From Me: William,
This is a cash deal only for local pickup. If you have cash let me know, if not no deal.

Thank for responding to my email well i have to let you know that the
shippng cost will be include with your payment and and when you cash
the check at your bank the shipper can come for the pick p by then…i
should have handle the shipping fund my self but due to my frame of
work it wont be possible for me that why i have to email the payee to
send out my salary to you and deduct your money from the money and
contact the shipper to come for the pick up ..i will email you the
shipper email so that you will talk to him as soon as you receive the
cash…i promise you everything will go on smoothly.i await your swift

Thanks for your swift response to my buying inquiry,your asking price
is quite reasonable and affordable considering others I’ve seen
lately, I’ll take it. I would have loved to come check it out my self
but I work for the force. I’m currently in camp as Survival, Evasion,
Resistance and Escape (SERE) instructor for new recruits. I however
squeezed out time to check this posting as all personal dealings are
highly restricted here, that’s why I’m arranging for a pick up. I’m
buying this for my Brother in Law, as I’ve promised him early this
year. I really want it to be a big surprise to him so I wouldn’t want
him to know anything about it until it gets delivered to him. I’m sure
he will be more than glad to receive it . I don’t have access to my
bank account online as I don’t have internet banking. I’m going to
arrange for a pickup with a freight company so you got nothing to
worry about.

However, I’ll like to complete the payment part through PayPal for the
safety of both of us. In addition, I’ll need your name, the pickup
address or location and please include your paypal email address for
the payment. If you don’t have paypal account It’s very easy and
secured…just visit http://www.paypal.com and click on signup, after that
you will need to send me the name and email address you have used to
registered with paypal so I can make the payment ASAP.

I just got the same guy fishing for me to send him too much info. The pitch was shockingly similar. This time he was an SERE in Bagram. The grammatical errors were the same. This time he was buying for his father. It is offensive that he tries to scam by portraying himself as a military trainer, based in foreign lands. It sucks that people like this exist. Thanks for posting this, I was so sure he was legit, until I started looking around and trying to quell this underlying pessemism. Sucks to find out I was right to doubt.

This is what he wrote to me:
Thanks for your swift response, I’m seriously interested in buying
this for my Father, your asking price is quite reasonable and
affordable considering others I’ve seen lately, I’ll take it. I would
have loved to come check it out my self but am currently in camp as
military SERE instructor for new recruits. I won’t be able to leave
the base(Bagram Air Base) for now. I however squeezed out time to
check this posting as all personal dealings are highly restricted
here, i really want this as a surprise gift for my Father so i won’t
let him know anything about this until it get delivered to him and due
to the fact that phone calls making are restricted……i will be
paying you with my PayPal account because it’s attached to my bank
account and its safe and very secure way to make payment. If my mode
of payment is accepted just send me your paypal email address,(PayPal
ID) so i can pay in right away. I have a private courier agent that
will come for the pick up after payments has been made, so no shipping
included. I’ll need your name, the pickup address or location and
please include your PayPal email address for the payment and send me
some recent pictures if available And if you don’t have a paypal
account, you can easily go to http://www.paypal.com
and sign
up. its very easy. I await your reply asap

I just got the same thing, only the name has changed. Mine is from Jeffrey Chapman.

Thanks you so much for the quick reply to my email.I will purchase the
item from you and
will be adding $50 extra for the item asking price,so please kindly
withdraw the advert from CRAIGSLIST.and i will be paying you via bank
certified check from my Bank and the payment will be delivered to you
via Fedex next-day and i will like you to get back to me with the
following information to facilitate the mailing out the check to
you… .I will need the below details to mail the payment as soon as
possible.

Name to be on the Check_____________
Home or office address(No P.O.BOX)___
City__State__Zip Code_______________
Phone Numbers_____________________

FYI:You will not be responsible for the shipping of the item..and I
will have my mover come over for the pick up as soon as you have the
check cashed at your bank,and i will get back to you once my secretary
made the payment out to you immediately

Wish You Longlife & Prosperity in the New Year In Advance

I just wish I had come across this info sooner. He now has my information. I had planned on having the bank confirm the money before completing the transaction, but now I’m not sure what to do. Do I just get with the bank, or should I get with the Sheriff and have him here when the “shipper” arrives? I have been taken once before on iBoats, and am not going to let it happen again.

– Don’t cash the check. It is a fraud. This means that even if it clears in your account at first, the bank will ALWAYS find out it is fraudulent eventually (this might take a couple weeks, by which time your scammer is long gone), and then you will be required to return the amount of the fraud check you cashed to the bank, or face legal charges. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t know the check was fraudulent — you will still be the one responsible for returning the money to the bank. So tear the check up, or report it to the authorities.

– No shipper will be arriving. There is no shipper. That is the scam: They pretend there is a shipper (or mover, or agent, or handler, etc) to make you think you are sending this ‘extra money’ to a 3rd party for some seemingly legitimate reason, but the money you send the fictional shipper is really to an account collected by the scammers themselves, and this is the end-goal of their scam — to get you to send them real money (before your bank discovers that their check was fraudulent).

Charles Schnaufer has been emailing me to buy a pool table from me. I replied with my name and address and phone number. He said he was sending the check today Fed Ex. Same story as most of the above letters. But I had told him I wanted my check for the purchase, and he should send me a different check for the shipper. No response as yet. I probably wont hear from him again. I am glad I checked this out. However, there is no way I would send any money to him from the overage check. haha But I suppose they do get some “takers” who lose their money. Sad that. Will let you know if I get a check in a day or so.

I just gave my last scammer the name and street address of one of the Westboro Church leaders to overnight the check to. Since, as you point out, the FBI probably has better things to do. At least this way I can waste the time of 2 losers at once.

Crazy – this guy (or scam company) is everywhere… Wish I had Google’d his email address last week. While we were skeptical, we still went along with it for a few days ~ rookies here… we gave him my husband’s work address – The Children’s Hospital, and have not heard another word. Apparently along with the FBI, sick kids scare him off too. How do we get revenge on the scammers?

Just got to reading your post regarding the fbi addy you gave the scammer…I just did the same thing to one my MANY craigslist buyers who “want to buy my item promptly, and they’re satisfied with the condition”…

I, though, did not give him the heads up, and the fool DID send it to the FBI office in Los Angeles…after looking up the tracking info he sent me on fedex, it was actually SIGNED by someone there…I’ve given the fbi more info, as the scammer has sent me a physical address to send my funds to their “movers”…I’ll let you know how it pans out.

At least you can get to the FBI. I have tried twice and they will not contact me back. I still have the idiot’s check. He tried to threaten me on email and I gave it back to him a lot worse. If I don’t hear from the FBI soon, I’m just going to mulch the stuff.

I had one of those responding to my ad – I gave him our county sheriff’s name and address, and no phone for the phony reason of “unlisted”. I wonder if he took the bait, as I keep receiving e-mails that he will send the payment “soon”…

I really appreciate all of the comments here. I got a similar email from Robert Peterson and Michael Wilson saying the exact same thing. After reading these notes from everyone, I sent back a note saying I was not interested in selling the item to either. He sent me a note saying he wanted to purchase it…the same note as before. Clearly a scam. Avoid these people…..

Yes, and Larry stewart (no typo, twit does not know enough to write “his” last name starting with capital S). He actually did send the payment, because he shared the tracking # with me. And then, he intercepted the payment, and wanted me to call UPS and pick it up in person. Yeah, good luck with that. I have some very interesting screen prints from the UPS website. Everything went well, until it said it was signed for by FRAUD, and forwarded some place else. I wonder how much he (she?) really spent on UPS-ing that fake check, and how much the intercept cost, because it is how I scammed the scammer…. No, don’t avoid those people. Play their game on your terms. Don’t give them your addres, don’t give them your phone. Talk to someone from your local law enforcement, and ask their permission to give their work address, and perhaps even their work phone. Play it to the hilt, make them spend on mailing you fake checks, and spend on intercept too. Scamming scammers is definitely fun! :o)

Now here’s a good one for you. I received an email from a lady who wants to buy expensive handicapped equipment that I no longer need and I was selling on craigslist. She sent an email asking lots of great questions about the equipment, then she stated if I gave her my paypal email address, she would send the money via paypal and have a shipper pick it up. To play along, I said ok without giving up any information such as my address, phone number etc. She emails back to me today saying that the shipper told her she would have to pay the shipping cost up front and that she doesn’t have the money to pay the shipper to pick up and was wondering if she added the shipping amount to the purchase cost of the item via paypal, then I pay the shipper. I spoke to paypal who told me it’s perfectly ok to give her my paypal email address for her to send money to me and there’s no way she can get access to my paypal account information. Has anyone seen anything like this? Is this some sort of paypal scam? Maybe it’s legit but not sure. She hasn’t asked, at least not yet for a pick up address or phone number. What do you think?

I have no idea how one can make a fake paypal payment. Make a payment, and then put a stop on it? However, be on guard, as s/he may manufacture some fake proof of sending the money, and then demand the equipment. When someone has a “shipper”, that immediately smells bad. When they mail you a fake check, and you deposit that in your account, they “send you more to cover the shipping cost”. And of course they send you way too much, and ask you to cut a check to some third party and mail it to them. This gets you both ways, because you have a rubber check fee on top of the money that you’ve sent to someone else. If no fake check is involved, s/he may use your paypal email address to do something illegal with it – maybe s/he will say it was his/her address, and pull another scam with your name on it. I wonder what will happen next… keep us posted.

Here’s an update on scammers using paypal. The lady who was supposedly interested in purchasing the equipment I have sent me a note today saying I should receive an email from paypal verifying the full amount is now in my account. Then came 4 very professional looking emails with the paypal logo that looked completely legit saying that paypal has confirmed money was in my account and the next step was to send money to the shipper via western union. However, when I read the 4th email, it stated “this is an account that paypal customer service reps are not allow to discuss by phone because the entire transaction is in email”. In other words, don’t call paypal to check on it just assume it’s legit and wire $800 dollars to a shipper. That was the key for me. I immediately called paypal who informed me this was a scam. Noone from paypal sent these messages and there are no funds from the buyer in my account. I checked my account online and found nothing there. So, I was told to forward all the emails received to paypal’s fraud department for investigation. Everyone, be careful here….sounds like some scammers have come up with a way to convince you to send a shipper money using paypal giving you the seller the impression that paypal has confirmed money in your account. The person who wanted to buy the equipment name is Vivian James. A snake indeed!

I sold an item on Ebay, received payment via Paypal, sent the item.THEN Paypal informed me
that the buyer’s check bounced….a week later. Buyer did not return the item, and his Ebay
feedback showed other fraudulent activities. The one consolation was that E and P both booted
him off their sites. Fortunately for me the item was not a high ticked so my loss was minor.

I always thought that at least selling via paypal was secure… I did not even know that one could send a check to paypal. One more thing to beware, I guess. I have no paypal account. I had one, but run into a dishonest seller on E-bay, and when I sent the item back, and wanted a refund, paypal stood with the seller. So I used the leverage of my credit card, and got my money back regardless – and paypal killed my account, saying that there was illegal activity there, and they demanded faxed copies of my passport, my ID (drivers’ license), AND my SSN card. I told myself, crap, this just isn’t worth it, and allowed the account to remain “frozen”. I don’t trust paypal since, and don’t use it, unless it allows me to use my credit card for payment. Can a seller specify credit card via paypal as a form of payment?

If you still have those e-mails, run the headers through Spamcop. It will tell you where they came from. Also, right-click on the links in e-mails, and select “copy link location”. When you paste it, you will see something entirely different than what it says on the surface… I wonder what FBI is doing instead of chasing thieves.

It was nice to find this because I JUST today received a very similar email in reference to my listing on Craigslist. I knew it sounded weird….. Thanks for having all this posted, it helped me out 😉

Here is what I got:
Hello,
Thanks for the mail,what is the present condition of the wedding dress and kindly get back to me with the final asking price because I’m willing to purchase the wedding dress and you can attach the pictures to me if you have any available. and i will be paying you through Certified Check and the payment will be issue out to you on monday,Kindly get back to me with the full information below:

I posted something for sale and got the ” condition acceptable, I’m out of town, will overnight a check to you right away” spiel. I responded that it “sounded good”. I then told them that it would be available for pick-up at the (local) police department. I sent the address and the phone number and told them that the check could be overnighted there as I was a detective at the force and would be on duty. Funny……I never heard back.

I just got a message from “Deigo Ramos,” “a Respectful Buyer on CL,” offering to buy my vintage dishes sight unseen, and here’s what I told him:

Wonderful! I will need a check for $5 million for the dishes, but I need it soon, as the police are on my tail and i am beating it out of town. You see, I’m a Craigslist scammer, and a murderer too. Hope they don’t catch me!

Thanks for the response, the price is good and am going to buy it
from you, and I would like you to consider this sold. I would have
loved to come and see it but my schedule will not permit me I’m a busy
kind
of person. You can get back to me with more pics if you still have
more it so that we can proceed with payment arrangements and pick up.
Please do withdraw the advert from craigslist to avoid disturbance
from other buyers. I want you to know that i will be paying via bank
certified/cashier check .I will like you to reply with the following
details to facilitate the mailing of the check to you,

1…..Full name to write on the check
2…..Full Physical address to post the check
3…..City, State and Zip Code
4…..Home & Cell Phone to contact you

********** Note**********
You will get back to me today with your contact information for the
payment and the check will be shipped to your address via UPS,USPS or
FEDEX courier services and I will like you to know that you will not
be Responsible for delivery i will have my mover come over as soon as
you have cashed the check. My Regard

OMG if I did not just read this I would of not just caught my scammer with the certified check crap and being that nieve to what the heck this person was trying to pull It started off good but when the mention of the certified check came in to play and that they were not local I got suspect to them and called them out not too guulliable but i gave my name and address before i baited them help i might need the FBI now that they know where i live , i even told the jerks to have a blessed day what is wrong with these people i was born during the day but no yesterday i told them to CASH YOUR OWN CERTIFIED CHECK AND GIVE ME THE CASH hows that sound !!!!!!

Hehehe, I just got a Craig’s List reply from the famed Charles Schnauffer. But this dope left his email as @yahoo.fr so i traced the email header info showing IP Address back to Dublin Ireland. So I sent him a reply asking him if he was going to come from Dublin to pickup the item hehehe

I got the same ole Charles Schnaufer (notice, from France email).
I feel sorry for those who fall for his constantly dying dad scam and actually send him money. As for us not so dumb ones, have fun pulling his leg!!!

sorry Michael, i didn’t see the thing you wrote about editing e-mails, and i know that
i put the jerks e-mail in the comment.
again,
sorries,
gina
i’m just going to ignore him i guess. why waste my time..

I got the same email.. I played the guy and asked him to send an additional $20.00 in cash to cover my gas expenses in driving the check to the bank. Figuring I would never hear from him again, I forgot about it until I got a check for 5 grand and a twenty dollar bill in the mail!! Laffed all the way to the bar and had a drink on “Charles”.. whata moron!

uh oh’s….did you put it it your bank? because from what i’ve been reading it, it will bounce and you’ll get in trouble. i’m sure i read that here somewhere…mine hasn’t replyed since i ignored his requst for my info, for “the itim”. haha. i wanted to use the FBI address here, but we don’t have one, or else it’s secret. i just hope he didn’t screw you. ;(
cheers!

mike bode
2:53 PM (31 minutes ago)
to me
Thanks for your prompt response,I’m quite comfortable with the condition ,and i will add $50 to the purchase price as an offer to keep the item off the site,but want to inform u that my method of payment is via Bank Check. I will make arrangements for the pick-up with my shipping company after you have received and cashed payment,so you don’t have to worry about the shipment,If this meets your approval, kindly get back to me as soon as possible, with your full Name, Phone # and Home address. Door step street address.. City…. State.. Zip/Postal code… Home phone… Cell phone…. Amount ….
Thx for all the insight.
I will pass

Just to let everyone know, they are using jobs now as well buying something from you. He is going to mail me a check along with my first assignment. Now that I think about it this is probably not anything new is it.

I posted a table for sale on craigslist for 200 dollars and I received a text saying ” Round Glass Table W/ Chairs! LIKE NEW – -i am interested in the price, text me back if its still available.Greg.” I responded saying it was still available and I’m asking 200 for he it. He replied saying “(1/2)I am OK with the price,i just need to know if its still in a good shape,and also if you will accept a certified check when it has been cashed I will then (2/2)have someone to pick it up?” I responded like an idiot saying heck yeah someone wants to buy my table! I said I will accept a certified check, told him the table was in great condition which i should have known better because my ad has pictures and lists its price and condition and then I asked if he is in state. He responded with ” Ok, text me your name and mailing address so that the check will be mailed to you ASAP. Thank you.” I then gave him my name and address. I feel like an idiot because after I gave it to him I started searching about scams and found this. I am very worried now. After I saw all this I asked him to send me his banks name phone number and his name as well to make sure the check I recieve is real. He never responded. Then I told him that my husband no longer wants to sell the table and that we want to keep it and we will not be going through with the deal. He hasn’t responded yet and I am weary of my mistake of sending him my name and address. Will I be okay? What if he is legit and has sent it out already and tries to say I stole his money? I dont know what to do.

Thanks for your post. I got an email from michael on CL this morning and because it was so vague I googled his address. Glad to find out he’s a scammer so I don’t have to waste time or give him my email.

I had this sam today..
Few hours after I post item to Craig list, I have email of interseting on my ite.
I have reply to him, to meet somewhere in local, he change the story quick that he can not make, he want me to ship to him. I suspect something is not right, I email him not accepting the offer, then he gets this and that story of need on my item.
So, I accpet his offer, then find from this posting.
Thanks very much,, I just send email not to sell the item.
I may need to wait to see the check mail, if it comes I will take to post office to certification of content, return to sender…
I wouldn’t think police will do anything….

Got a message from “Frank”, Googled him and found this site. He’s apparently willing to offer me a job. LOL I knew it was a scam as soon as I rec’d it. I emailed him back to let him know that I was really interested. I sent the email from a fake account so it won’t know my real name.

I got so many scam emails especially from (clark ), juliet tischler ,
Here is the contents:
“is this item still available? if yes get back to me with the estimated price.”
“Thanks for the prompt response to my mail. I will be buying from you
so please kindly withdraw the advert from C.LIST. Please be informed
that i will be paying with a certified check from my Bank it will be
delivered to you via United Parcel Service (UPS), so I’ll need you to
provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of
the check…

Name to be on the payment………..
Home address………..
City…………..
State………..
Zip Code…………..
Last price……………….
Cell phone #…………….

I will make arrangements for the pick up as soon as you have your
money I am completely satisfied with the advert and the payment will
be delivered within 24hours.** I use a hearing impaired phone # and
will receive your calls via email **..I’m sorry for the late respond
to your email …N.B UPS does not deliver to a P.O box addresses.

Thanks”
“Thanks , I got the Details and the payment will be sent out soon and
as soon as it sent out i will get back to you, Pls keep the other
buyer off and the payment will get to you asap and the item will be
pick up after you have the payment.”
“Hello,
Am sorry for the late response, My husband sent the payment out on Tuesday but Fedex didnt pick it until yesterday due to holiday but it will be there soon with the tracking # 934169815012962 and he included the shipment funds in the amount on the check because since i cant come down and pick up the item and we are preparing moving soon. The check sent to you will take 24hours to clear and you are to deduct your $200 and additional $70 for keeping the item for me and your running around and then give the rest balance to the mover coming for the pick up, I hope i can trust you with my money? We have some other items around your location needed for our new apartment with the mover will be picking up everything together but pls i will need your honest and trust and your updating to end up this transaction..because this is our first time on the list. I will get the mover information in the morning and get back to you so that you will know who will be coming for the pick up.
Thanks and God bless”

Even when your trying to say No but it is automatic to reply you back. So be careful of the scammers!

I am currently corresponding with a craigslist scammer. I knew it was a scam from the beginning, but I just wanted to see how long I could keep him going in thinking this transaction will go through. The last email “Micheal Larry” sent closed with “God Bless”. That did it for me. Nobody uses my God in such a detestable manner to me without a sure response. I will post my response below. (Please note: all the facts in my response are true, but the only resason I shared it was to hopefull get some sense through to disturbed people.)

My response: “Be very careful using God’s name to try to incur blessing for others who you do not know to be a Christian. 2 John 1:10 says “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine,” (meaning they are not claiming salvation through Jesus Christ alone) “receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed.” God speed and God bless are the same thing. You wouldn’t want to ask The Lord’s blessing on someone who is acting in a sinful manner. It would be appalling to ask God to bless the wicked ways of a sinfilled person. They would not be promoting love, respect, or kindness into the world, and it would be awful to ask a perfect, kind, and loving God to bless that person. Thankfully, I am a child of God, and He does bless me greatly. I appreciate your conveying of God’s blessing on my life. I really need it too. I am a single mother of 7 young children, and was laid off of my 13 year career 5 days before Christmas. With this economy, I have yet to find work to support us all. Selling my vehicle was the only option to save our home. At least the sale of my vehicle to you will help us pay our mortgage for the next few months. Thank you so much for your time and quick responses. I’m very happy God has brought you into our lives. Please let me know if there is anything I can help you with in the future.”

I guess I will see if I get a response. I would hope anyone with a heartbeat would think twice about scamming someone in my situation out of $1,200. We’ll see how evil this world has gotten.

Lol. I just did the same thing to someone ….I stole your idea and used the FBI address in response to this email:

Good Am very interested in it,I’ll be responsible for the
pick-upand the pick up money will be included in your payment
to avoid delay and to enable pick up company to schedule an
appropriate time for him to pick-up at your location after
check has been cashed and fully cleared your bank,as i have
other properties to be moved alongside with yours.Please do
get back to me with your full name and address including your
Phone number so i can make out payment.do get back to me,

My scammer is Joe Skinner. Being he wasted my time, I decided to have some fun and keep him busy as well. Our emails are below. After sending him the address for the FBI, I had some fun with another email. I’ve put it at the beginning in case you don’t want to read our banter. As of this comment, I haven’t heard back from him. What’s so hilarious about these scammers is their butchering of the English language making it easy for readers of these comments to tell who’s scamming and who’s selling!!

I’m so happy to sell you my shelf. The money will come in handy. Please include an additional $1,000,000 for the trouble of removing my ad from Craigs List.

Oh, did I mention that my father and sister are FBI agents and I work for the Federal Trade Commission? Just thought you might want to know.

Have a great day!!!
*****
Good day….How are u doing today? Do get back to me if u still have
ur posted item available forsale with the present condition Thanks joe

Yes, the shelf is still available.

Thanks for responding, I’m ok with the price. i would like you to
remove the advert from the list cos i want to make the purchase asap
and i dont mind adding extra $30 to delete the ads from the list..
Please let me know if a certified check is ok.? After the payment
clears, my shipper will come and pick it up at your location. I would
have loved to come and take a look but I can’t. My shipper will
though. If you can get back to me with your details I’ll get the check
out asap.

Need your full name and address, and your telephone number..

I’m happy that you’re interested in the buying the shelf, but I’m not comfortable giving out my information. I’ve had several responses identical to yours, so pardon me for being leery. Please have your shipper bring cash and I’ll drop the price to $150. Otherwise, I’ll need your full name, address, telephone number and proof of identity.

I would have love to pay you with cash, but it is due to my work
shedule but i want to assure you a legit transaction ok..and it is
after you get the check cash my mover will come for the pick up..pls
kiindly let me know if you are willing to sell for me?

Where are you located? In United States?

NY

Will you please explain to me why you want to send a certified check instead of having your shipper bring cash?

Am making an arrangement for the private pick up after the check has
been clear from ur bank an ddue to my work frame i would have come
with cash my self

Use tracking for the mail, and make sure to pay for the mailing with your valid credit card. When you have noted that the check has arrived, let me know right away. I’ll go straight there and your shipper can meet me immediately.

So we were selling my wife’s wedding dress and un used sash and basically got the same thing. I said I would only accept check if once check cleared then and only then would I ship out items. I was suspicious and wish I would have come across this blog then. I gave my wife’s name and work address (no she does not work at the FBI… I wish). We just received the check today from a government employee credit union. I am going to take these items and the correspondence with the seller to the FBI office. Question Mr. Gracie, should I be concerned that he has my wife’s name and work address? I guess that is probably a question I can ask the FBI. Thanks for the Post!

I got something similar when selling my car on CL. A guy with terrible grammar wanted to buy my junky car and have it shipped. I texted with him and signed each text with “Thanks, Tom”. I then gave him my name and address for his certified check:

Thomas Brady
1 Patriot Place
Foxborough, MA 02035

He said he would send me the check and I said great and that I was excited because I really needed the money and signed my last text with “Thanks again, Tom Brady”.

If he contacts me again to ask if I received the check, I plan to tell him that I haven’t been able to get to my mailbox due to a deflated tire issue (a la deflate gate) but that my associates, Mr. Robert Gronkowski and Mr. Julian Edelman” would check my mail.

I post on Craigslist often. Although I’ve never given out my info, I’d to say THANK YOU to Michael Gracie for letting people know how to stop them in their tracks. I love making up a story about meeting me in Charlotte NC and giving the FBI’s address!

I was selling a surround sound system on craigslist and got the same scammer email in a different variation so I took some tips from one of your commenters (Melissa) and responded with.
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Wonderful! Just to let you know, I am really busy trying to sell my personal belongings on Craigslist by April 15. This helps so much because I have an eviction notice and am trying to avoid being thrown into the street with my 2 & 6 year old children, wife passed last year. So I have asked a friend to help me out with your transaction as it seems a little time consuming. She works in Lakeville which is just the next town over but she trustworthy and will handle this matter with the utmost care.

Please send the check to:

Federal Builiding

Attn: Ima B. Smartte

30 Riverside Drive, 2nd Floor

Lakeville, MA 02347

Please send the check to:

The phone number for Ima is (508) 947-0625

Use tracking for the mail, and make sure to pay for the mailing with your valid credit card. When you have noted that the check has arrived, let me know right away. I’ll go straight there and your mover can meet me immediately. I am giving the item to my friend Ima because the chances of your mover meeting me at my place are pretty slim. I am certain I will have been evicted, thrown into the street, by then. How’s that sound?

Thank you so much for making such a strong commitment to purchase my item you have closely viewed. . Goodness knows I would not want to make you sad! Because I know how awful it feels when someone makes me sad!

Best regards,
Joe

I spelt building wrong, hahahaha whatever, Maarten will get a nice surprise, regardless!